Captive portal & branding

The captive portal is the page a customer sees after joining your WiFi and before they’re online. It’s where they browse packages, pay, use a voucher or log back in. ISPMan hosts it, and you control how it looks and what it offers.

What customers see

Loading screen: a short branded screen served by the router itself. It sends the customer on to the portal.
Captive portal: your logo, colours and packages. The customer taps a package, enters their phone number and pays. With M-Pesa they get a prompt on their phone, and the portal waits for the payment and then connects the device. Depending on your settings and payment methods, the portal can also offer manual paybill instructions, Use Voucher, Login with Payment Reference, and links such as My Usage and My Devices.
Status page: once connected, the router can show the customer their package, time left and data used.

Settings that control the portal

All of these are under Settings (owners only):

Settings card	Path	Use it for
Brand & Contact (also found as Customize Branding in search)	`/dashboard/settings/branding`	Brand Logo, Brand Name, colour, and the Phone Number, Whatsapp Number and Email Address customers can contact you on.
Captive Experience (also found as Captive Theme)	`/dashboard/settings/captive-theme`	Themes and designs for every screen, with a live preview.
Captive Portal Features	`/dashboard/settings/captive-features`	Switching portal features on and off.
Hotspot Configurations	`/dashboard/settings/hotspot-configurations`	Packages, collected details, terms and advertising for each portal type.

Captive Experience

The page has one tab for each screen, in the order a customer meets them. Each tab has a live preview, which you can switch between Mobile, Tablet and Laptop.

Loading Screen: pick a design for the screen the router shows while it hands the customer to the portal. You can edit the Loading message (clear it to show no message) and Show logo.
Captive Portal: pick a theme, then customise its colours (Primary, Secondary, Background, Surface (cards), Text on primary), button colours, Font family, Font size and Package layout (list, grid or swipe, depending on the theme). Leave Theme active off while you design: the preview shows the new theme, but customers keep seeing your basic branding until you switch it on. Portal changes apply straight away.
Status Page: pick a design for the page connected customers see. You can set Show logo, and Show the active package lets the page show which package the customer is on. If it’s off, the page only shows what the router knows, such as connection time and data used.
Expired PPPoE: the notice expired PPPoE customers see. See PPPoE.
Terms & Language: your terms, privacy policy, and the languages the portal offers (English, French, Swahili, Arabic, Amharic, Somali, Hausa, Portuguese).
Full White Label: a paid add-on that removes ISPMan branding and serves the portal from your own domain. The price is shown on the tab.
White Label Branding API: build your own landing page from your packages, contact details and theme.

Push the router pages

The loading screen and status page are files stored on your routers, so saving a design doesn’t change what customers see yet. Use Deploy to routers → Push to routers to send them out. The bar shows when you last pushed. Routers that have checked in within the last hour get the files now. Routers that are offline pick them up when they next come online.

Captive Portal Features

Each switch takes effect for all your hotspots.

Group	Setting	What it does
Customer account	Connect Another Device	Customers can add more devices to their active package from the portal.
	My Usage	Shows a usage summary of the current session.
	My Devices	Customers can see and manage their connected devices.
	Family & Sharing	Customers can share their session with family members.
Buying a package	Show Package Speed	Shows each package’s speed.
	Connect Straight After Payment	For packages with more than one device, connects the customer immediately instead of stopping at the “add another device” page.
Contact & links	Show ISPMan Signup / Show Leave a Message	Extra links on the portal.
Logging back in	Payment Ref Login	Customers can get back online by entering their payment reference (e.g. their M-Pesa code). Sharing mode lets several customers use the same reference. Migration mode moves the subscription to the account being logged in. You can rename the button with Payment Ref Login Button Title.
	Seamless Sharing Code	Gives every customer a permanent code they can pass to a friend, so the friend’s device can take one of the free slots on a multi-device package. Set the characters and Sharing Code Length (4–12).
	Login or Purchase Landing	Opens the portal on a choice between Login and Buy a Package, instead of going straight to the package list. Needs Payment Ref Login or Seamless Sharing Code to be on.

The same page also has free mode for all routers.

Hotspot configuration settings

Open Settings → Hotspot Configurations and click Manage on a configuration. Besides Packages (for Paid), you’ll find:

Advertising: show ads on the portal and sell ad space to visitors. See Promotions.
Collected Details: ask customers for details before they connect. Switch on Enable this setting, give it a Title and Description, then choose which details to collect (for example First Name, Last Name, Phone Number, Email, Date of Birth), each with Enable, Optional and Verify.
Terms & Conditions: switch on Enable this setting and enter the terms customers must accept.

Tips

Upload a logo under Brand & Contact first. The portal, router pages and printed vouchers all use it.
After changing the loading screen or status page, test with a phone on the hotspot. The router only serves the new files after Push to routers.

Packages
Free mode
Payments: setting up M-Pesa and other payment methods
Promotions