WiFi BT openzone

[#1]

I run a small, London hotel.  It is fast becoming essential for me to be able to offer free wifi to our guests.
I have done some basic research on small business wifi services and it seems to me that the simplest and cheapest option for me would be to use a BT business hub router.  This would allow me to offer up to 13 users free wifi at 512k and all guest data would be managed via BT open zone so I don't need to worry about what my customers are doing with their data.
Can I use such a router and run a BT open zone at my hotel while still keeping my existing plus.net broad band?  If not would I have to switch to BT business broadband to get this?  Are there any other low cost and simple solutions that Plus.net or members can suggest to me?

[#2]

Welcome to the Forum
I am not sure, but I dont think that BTOpenzone is available to everybody to use, you have to be a registered use of that system.
I will look at one of the places I visit to see what system they use.

[#3]

one near me that is open, is the Wyevale Garden centres  http://www.thegardencentregroup.co.uk
these are the London ones with WiFi

[#4]

Pouly I'm pretty sure you need to be a BT business broadband to make openzone available and even then it's not free for your customers.

[#5]

BT Openzone is not that straight forward since BT teamed up with Fon (www.btfon.com). I have a BT Business hub and also an original member on FON before BT involvement. I can enable the Openzone on my router but as it's a business hub when I try to log into my Fon account it expect me to buy WiFi minutes.
But if it's a BT Home hub then the ssid will be Openzone-H and I can log into it as part of the Fon/BTFon community.
As I joined Fon (www.fon.com) before BT involvement I'm not sure if they still offer friends log in credentials. If they do I would recommend going down this route and then having a 'Friend' user name and password for each room.  
The other option is to get a router that you can run www.dd-wrt.com firmware and set up your own Chillispot http://www.chillispot.info/

[#6]

been to wyevale, they have a separate unlimited line- he did think TalkTrouble  and it is just open for any one to use
dont know how you would separate it but have you an unlimited Business PN account? - it could be done in the router

[#7]

Quote from: itsme

BT Openzone is not that straight forward since BT teamed up with Fon (www.btfon.com). I have a BT Business hub and also an original member on FON before BT involvement. I can enable the Openzone on my router but as it's a business hub when I try to log into my Fon account it expect me to buy WiFi minutes. But if it's a BT Home hub then the ssid will be Openzone-H and I can log into it as part of the Fon/BTFon community. As I joined Fon (www.fon.com) before BT involvement I'm not sure if they still offer friends log in credentials. If they do I would recommend going down this route and then having a 'Friend' user name and password for each room.   The other option is to get a router that you can run www.dd-wrt.com firmware and set up your own Chillispot http://www.chillispot.info/

Thanks itsme,
I have checked on the Fon link you gave me and it looks like it might be able to provide me with a viable solution.
I'm trying to find a phone number to contact the people of FON UK, but so far I have not been able to find any number, just an email link.  I still need to ask them questions about their service to make sure I fully understand it and that I would be covered by EU / UK data law if my guests used this Fon via my plus.net broadband.  I don't want to end up in trouble if my hotel guests start downloading illegal stuff, and I do not want to be the one in charge of collecting and monitoring all their data etc.
I'm also still trying to get my head around the difference between the BT open zone / BT Fon and just a Fon router.
So far I see it like this:
Open 1; I  drop my plus.net broad band and sign up for BT Business unlimited broadband
a) I get a new BT business hub
b) I get to open that hub up to all BT Fon and all BT open zone members?
c) my hotel guests can sign up on BT  FON or BT Openzone? and buy wifi minutes and then use my BT Openzone router to surf the web
d) BT manages all issues of data legality and compliance with UK /EU digital melennium ACTA REa rights stuff?
e) I get free access to BT open zone and BT Fon away from my business.
Option 2, I keep my plus.net broad band and I buy a Fon router from FON UK.
a) I replace my old Netgear gear router with the new Fon router
b) I get to open that router hub to all Fon members, but not to BT Fon or BT open Zone members?
c) my hotel guests can sign up to Fon, but not to BT Fon or BT Open Zone, and then buy Fon wifi minutes and use my Fon router to surf the web
d) Fon manages all issues of data legality and compliance with UK /EU digital millennium ACTA REa rights stuff?
e) I get access to Fon zones away from my business.

[#8]

From Fon T and C:
"ISP that permits the FONero to share bandwidth."
Does plus.net permit FONero to share bandwidth?

[#9]

There was this a while ago - http://community.plus.net/blog/2007/10/05/bt-hooks-up-with-fon-for-widespread-wifi/#comment-190

[#10]

Open 1; I  drop my plus.net broad band and sign up for BT Business unlimited broadband
a) I get a new BT business hub Yes
b) I get to open that hub up to all BT Fon and all BT open zone members? No, with a Business hub there is no BTFon only Openzone
c) my hotel guests can sign up on BT  FON or BT Openzone? and buy wifi minutes and then use my BT Openzone router to surf the web Not the way to go as people expect WiFi to be free
d) BT manages all issues of data legality and compliance with UK /EU digital melennium ACTA REa rights stuff? Probably
e) I get free access to BT open zone and BT Fon away from my business.Yes
Option 2, I keep my plus.net broad band and I buy a Fon router from FON UK.
a) I replace my old Netgear gear router with the new Fon router No the Fon Wireless router will plug into your Netgear
b) I get to open that router hub to all Fon members, but not to BT Fon or BT open Zone members? Fon, BTFon and BT Openzone-H members will be able to access
c) my hotel guests can sign up to Fon, but not to BT Fon or BT Open Zone, and then buy Fon wifi minutes and use my Fon router to surf the webNot the way to go, offer free WiFi and set up  a Username and password they can use.
d) Fon manages all issues of data legality and compliance with UK /EU digital millennium ACTA REa rights stuff? Traffic is routed via Fon
e) I get access to Fon zones away from my business. Yes and BTFon and BT Openzone-H but not Openzone

[#11]

Quote from: purleigh

There was this a while ago - http://community.plus.net/blog/2007/10/05/bt-hooks-up-with-fon-for-widespread-wifi/#comment-190

Since that was posted in 2007 don't know how valid that is now with BT involvement with Fon and the ACS Law ruling.

[#12]

Quote from: itsme

Open 1; I  drop my plus.net broad band and sign up for BT Business unlimited broadband a) I get a new BT business hub Yes b) I get to open that hub up to all BT Fon and all BT open zone members? No, with a Business hub there is no BTFon only Openzone c) my hotel guests can sign up on BT  FON or BT Openzone? and buy wifi minutes and then use my BT Openzone router to surf the web Not the way to go as people expect WiFi to be free d) BT manages all issues of data legality and compliance with UK /EU digital melennium ACTA REa rights stuff? Probably e) I get free access to BT open zone and BT Fon away from my business.Yes Option 2, I keep my plus.net broad band and I buy a Fon router from FON UK. a) I replace my old Netgear gear router with the new Fon router No the Fon Wireless router will plug into your Netgear b) I get to open that router hub to all Fon members, but not to BT Fon or BT open Zone members? Fon, BTFon and BT Openzone-H members will be able to access c) my hotel guests can sign up to Fon, but not to BT Fon or BT Open Zone, and then buy Fon wifi minutes and use my Fon router to surf the webNot the way to go, offer free WiFi and set up  a Username and password they can use. d) Fon manages all issues of data legality and compliance with UK /EU digital millennium ACTA REa rights stuff? Traffic is routed via Fon e) I get access to Fon zones away from my business. Yes and BTFon and BT Openzone-H but not Openzone

Thanks again,
The only problem I have with offering free wifi to guests would be that I would have to store and manage data logs for all my guests that use the user name and password I give out.  For a small B&B hotel that only employees four people, this added bureaucracy is not viable.  I need a set-up where a third part like BT or Fon is the one that stores and manages the compliance of my guests use of the wifi.

[#13]

Quote

LOGIN *                   LOGOUT *          DURATION TRAFFIC(dl/ul)       Nickname 2011-12-07 20:10:04 2011-12-07 20:20:27   10m 23s 0.11MB / 0.04MB  alanskynet 2011-11-19 14:58:06 2011-11-19 15:08:18   10m 12s 0.01MB / 0MB         alanskynet 2011-11-07 03:58:05 2011-11-07 04:14:21   16m 16s 0.84MB / 0.25MB LittleChom 2011-11-07 03:48:45 2011-11-07 03:48:45                 0MB / 0MB                 LittleChom 2011-09-05 20:46:44 2011-09-05 20:56:46    10m 2s 0.01MB / 0MB       foneroVE2sVCOhJL

Fon do supply a log. The above is for mine, LittleChom is a Friend log on and the others are from unknown Fon members

[#14]

Another thing to bear in mind that BT Openzone limit the bandwidth to 512kbps and with Fon you can set the bandwidth on their portal the lowest being 512kbps. So this will stop most illegal streaming media.
As I hacked the firmware in my Fon router I can limit the bandwidth down to 64kbps controlled directly by the router.

[#15]

Quote from: itsme

Quote LOGIN *                   LOGOUT *            DURATION TRAFFIC(dl/ul)       Nickname 2011-12-07 20:10:04 2011-12-07 20:20:27   10m 23s 0.11MB / 0.04MB  alanskynet 2011-11-19 14:58:06 2011-11-19 15:08:18   10m 12s 0.01MB / 0MB         alanskynet 2011-11-07 03:58:05 2011-11-07 04:14:21    16m 16s 0.84MB / 0.25MB LittleChom 2011-11-07 03:48:45 2011-11-07 03:48:45                 0MB / 0MB                 LittleChom 2011-09-05 20:46:44 2011-09-05 20:56:46    10m 2s 0.01MB / 0MB        foneroVE2sVCOhJL Fon do supply a log. The above is for mine, LittleChom is a Friend log on and the others are from unknown Fon members

I assume I would have to keep the logs for 12 months so the position I don't want to be in is having to keep 1,000+ passport scans for 1,000+ different "LittleChoms" for 12 months in order for me not to to end up like Mr. megaupload guy.  Believe me I already have to store 1,000 nds of pages of documents for various 'elf and safety and accounting info etc.