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Launch a new hotspot from zero

This walkthrough takes you from a new MikroTik to a live hotspot that sells packages. It joins together router onboarding, hotspot configuration, packages, the captive portal look and a test payment.

Time needed: about an hour, most of it spent waiting for the router.

What you need

Section titled “What you need”
  • A MikroTik running RouterOS 7.18.2 or newer, with internet on its uplink port.
  • The wireless or wifi-qcom package installed, if the router will broadcast Wi-Fi itself.
  • Winbox on a laptop, plus the router’s admin login.
  • A phone with M-Pesa (or your local payment method) for the test purchase.

Step 1: Add the router to the dashboard

Section titled “Step 1: Add the router to the dashboard”
  1. Go to Devices → All Devices and click Add.
  2. In Add new Router Device, fill in Name this device (for example Main-Cafe), choose mikrotik under What OS is this device running?, and enter the Device Location.
  3. Save. You should see ISP Device Created Successfully, and the router opens on its own device page.

If you see Device limit reached, your plan has no free device slots. Contact support to raise the limit.

Step 2: Run the onboarding script

Section titled “Step 2: Run the onboarding script”
  1. On the device page, click Script. The Download MikroTik Setup Script window opens.
  2. Tick all three prerequisites: RouterOS version, Wi-Fi package, and device mode set to advanced. To check the mode, run /system/device-mode/print in the router terminal. If it says home, run /system/device-mode/update mode=advanced, then unplug the power for a few seconds and plug it back in.
  3. Check LAN Bridge and Uplink Interface (usually ether1). Leave Enable DHCP Client? on unless your uplink uses a static IP or PPPoE.
  4. Click Download Script. This saves a .rsc file.
  5. In Winbox, drag the file into Files, open Terminal, and run /import followed by the file name.

ISPMan picks the router up on its own. Give it a few minutes, then refresh the device page. When the router is online you get more buttons on the page, including + Hotspot, + Hotspot Server, Enable SSH and Reboot.

Step 3: Create a hotspot configuration and packages

Section titled “Step 3: Create a hotspot configuration and packages”

A hotspot configuration holds the packages and portal settings that one or more hotspots share.

  1. Go to Settings → Hotspot Configurations and add a configuration.
  2. Open it and create your packages, for example 1 Hour – KES 10, Daily – KES 50, Weekly – KES 250. For each package, set the price, how long it lasts, the upload and download speeds, and optionally a data cap and Max Sessions per User.
  3. Packages appear on Hotspot → Packages, but you create and edit them inside the configuration.

For more on package options, see Hotspot.

Step 4: Create the hotspot on the router

Section titled “Step 4: Create the hotspot on the router”

Back on the device page:

  • Click + Hotspot if the router broadcasts Wi-Fi itself. Fill in Hotspot Name, the Hotspot Configuration from Step 3, the Internet Enabled Bridge, the WiFi Master Interface, the Hotspot Network (for example 192.168.100.0) and the CIDR (24 is fine for most sites).
  • Click + Hotspot Server if you use external access points. In place of the Wi-Fi interface, you pick the port the access points plug into.

Click Next to review the tasks, then Run. This usually takes under a minute.

Step 5: Brand the captive portal

Section titled “Step 5: Brand the captive portal”
  1. Go to Settings → Customize Branding and set your logo, brand name, colour and contact phone or WhatsApp. Customers see these on the portal.
  2. Go to Settings → Captive Theme to choose how the portal looks. The editor shows a live preview.

Step 6: Check payments

Section titled “Step 6: Check payments”

Open Settings → Payments Settings. If you have your own M-Pesa Paybill or Till, connect it there so money settles directly to you. If you don’t add one, payments go to the ISPMan collection account and you withdraw them from Payments → Withdrawals. See Payments for details.

Step 7: Make a test purchase

Section titled “Step 7: Make a test purchase”
  1. On a phone, connect to the new Wi-Fi. The portal should open by itself. If it doesn’t, open any http:// website.
  2. Pick the cheapest package and pay.
  3. On the dashboard, check:
    • Payments → Received: the payment is listed with the customer’s account.
    • Hotspot → Sessions: the phone shows up with an IP and traffic counters.
    • Hotspot → Auth Logs: you see an Access-Accept in green.

If the portal doesn’t open, see Customers can’t see the captive portal. If the payment shows up but the phone stays offline, see Payment received but customer not online.

Section titled “Related”