Hotspot overview

A hotspot is public or shared WiFi where customers pay for a time-limited package before they get internet, for example “1 Hour – KES 10” or “Daily 5Mbps”. ISPMan runs the whole flow for you. Your MikroTik router broadcasts the WiFi and holds new devices at a login page, ISPMan hosts the captive portal where customers pick and pay for a package, and the router lets them online once the payment is confirmed.

How it works, end to end

The customer joins your WiFi. The router has a hotspot server on it, which ISPMan sets up for you. A new device can’t get online yet, so the router shows it a short loading screen.
The loading screen hands the customer over to the captive portal. This is your branded ISPMan portal, and it lists the packages you have for sale.
The customer picks a package and pays. They enter their phone number and confirm the M-Pesa prompt on their phone, or use another payment method you have set up. They can also redeem a voucher, or log back in with an earlier payment reference if you allow that.
ISPMan confirms the payment and connects the device. The router authenticates the customer and applies the package’s speed, data cap and device limits.
The customer browses. The router can show them a status page with their package, time left and data used.
The package expires. When its time (or data) runs out, the session ends and the customer goes back to the portal to buy again.

Every step is visible on the dashboard: customers, payments, live sessions, login attempts and usage.

Two menus: “Hotspot” and “Services → Hotspots”

The side menu has two hotspot entries. They overlap, but each has a different job.

Menu	Path	What it’s for
Hotspot	`/dashboard/hotspot/...`	The day-to-day section, with one page per job: Customers, Packages, Roamings, Requests, Sessions, Auth Logs, Acct Logs, Servers and Manual Connects.
Services → Hotspots	`/dashboard/hotspots`	The hotspot service hub. It has quick links to Recent Logs, Recent Accounting and your Packages, the Hotspot Customers table with the Bulk Actions, Compensation and Import CSV buttons, and Recent Payments.

Opening a hotspot server (from Hotspot → Servers) takes you to /dashboard/hotspots/<id>. That page is a single hotspot on a single router. It shows the router’s details, the WiFi interface, the hotspot server and profile, DHCP, IP pool, NAT and firewall rules, the users online on that server, a printable WiFi QR Code, and the Delete / Force Delete actions.

In short: use Hotspot to look things up, and use Services → Hotspots for bulk work on customers and to get to a particular hotspot server.

Where things are configured

You want to…	Go to
Create a hotspot on a router	Devices → your MikroTik → + Hotspot / + Hotspot Server. See Set up a hotspot on MikroTik
Choose the portal type (Paid, Free with Ads)	Settings → Hotspot Configurations
Create and price packages	Settings → Hotspot Configurations → Paid → Packages. See Packages
Change how the portal looks	Settings → Captive Experience and Settings → Brand & Contact. See Captive portal & branding
Turn portal features on or off	Settings → Captive Portal Features
Give out free codes	Vouchers. See Vouchers
Make internet free for a while	Free Mode. See Free mode
Make up for an outage	Services → Hotspots → Compensation. See Bulk actions & compensation

Who can see what

Hotspot pages are open to the owner and to team members with a hotspot role. A hotspots reader can view everything. A hotspots admin can also make changes, such as connecting a customer or editing packages. Settings → Hotspot Configurations is for owners and hotspot admins only.

Pages in this section

Devices: onboarding your router
Payments: connecting M-Pesa and other payment methods
Customers
PPPoE: for home and office subscribers instead of pay-as-you-go WiFi