Evaluation questions

[pb]

We are evaluating FirstSpot for use in a Hotel. Just a couple of quick questions.

1. Does the software support postpaid as well as pre-paid mode. We are thinking that it would be good to have guests pay for Internet access as they check out as well as providing casual access to resturant patrons. Is this a valid option ?.

2. How does the FirstSpot compare to the offerings from [product name deleted] considering that [product name deleted] offerings seem to be considerably cheaper. What is the selling point of FirstSpot over other Hotspot software.

[alan]

1) Yes, we support prepaid mode as well. The prepaid card option is contained within the QuickAdd feature.

2) FirstSpot has been in development for much longer period of time (since 2002, already in the 4th major version). I heard reports that they are very new. In fact, several of our recent customers are switching from their products. Feel free to give our trial version a ride to compare.
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~ Patronsoft Limited ~

[Jagungal]

I did install the software but It was not obvious how the post-paid option would work.

With regard to post-paid, can I clarify that you would assign a username to a guest - say a room number with their specific password. They could use the amount of time they needed then on check out a report could be done for billing purposes on the amount of internet time used ?

Is there a thorough user manual available that details the operation of the web based configurator. I see the guide that comes with the installation seems to cover a lot of the set up but is quite thin in the operational areas.

Apologies for all the questions, I like the software a lot but to recommend it for purchase I have to be really sure that it can do what is required.

[alan]

For your post-paid question, yes FirstSpot will record the time used in the table fsusrlog (when the user logout). You can then extract the information from that table and integrate it with your billing system.

Our web-based Configuration Manager should be quite obvious and you probably don't even need a manual most of the time. For day-to-day operation, you mostly need to touch the "Users" category within Configuration Manager. Sorry, we don't have another manual, but what specific question do you have?
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~ Patronsoft Limited ~

[Jagungal]

Saying that your post-paid option needs some sort of extraction from a database and integration into an unknown billing system is not exactly obvious is it ? This is what I was talking about when saying there is a lack of documentation.

What happens if the user does not log out or logs in and out several times ? Does this make it workable ?

We were thinking that integration would be manual across to our hotel system as this computer will not be on the business network.

What kind of database is being used ?

Are you saying we would have to build some kind of system to give the post paid option ? Is this going to work if a user logs in and out several times during their stay ?

Are there any plans to have a post paid feature that is more workable in the future ?

[alan]

1) Yes, it will work. FirstSpot will record the user session entry every time the user logout. In case the user does not log out explicitly, FirstSpot idle timeout mechanism (default is 10 minutes) will disconnect the user. So logging in and logging out several times will work just fine.

2) FirstSpot comes with a file-based dbf (i.e. dbase) ODBC datasource. We also support MySQL or Microsoft SQL server. Refer to chapter 8 firstspot_guide.pdf for more details.

BTW, I just re-read your earlier posting. Have you gone through our manual firstspot_guide.pdf? Maybe you just read the readme.rtf (which the install program displays when you run setup.msi)?
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~ Patronsoft Limited ~

[Jagungal]

Yes I have read the manual. As you know it says nothing about the Post Paid feature. The chapter you mention gives a rushed explanation on how to move the database to another data source but does not mention the database that is using internally. Thanks for filling us in on this info.

So, can you answer the other questions ? Are there plans to have the post paid feature more workable in the future without having to employ developers to connect to the database and write a separate application to interpret the data ?????

Are there plans to have better documentation that will give people the info they need to write these needed interfaces ?

This is important information that is needed before we commit to this application.

[esplanade]

PatronSoft
as a customer that purchased FIRSTSPOT I cannot help but notice the amount of posts asking for better documentation

We are asking for it

We need better documentation

FIRSTSPOT is a great program
please consider having great documentation

You can do this
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www.esplanade.us using Firstspot

[alan]

There is definitely room for improvement for documentation. Do you have any specific suggestion that can help us? Some examples will be great.

Jagungal, part of the reason for FirstSpot having a "loosely coupled" architecture is that there are variety of backend system. We are thinking about integrate with other system more tightly in the future (the best example is PMS Fidelio). The problem is that this only solves problem for some users. Any feedback from your side?
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~ Patronsoft Limited ~

[esplanade]

In each scenario a detail page giving examples of;
routing issues (how to establish routing in mixed IP topologies)
Hardware configuration (bridge vs. routed networks)
end point VPN Tunnel configurations

I could go on, but the fact is the documentation leaves allot of guesswork for the person doing implementations.

Real world examples of different situations with detailed explanations attached or for reference.

A network administrator guide for the advanced - I love the fact that FIRSTSPOT worked "out of the box" here in our lab. But the fact is the "lab" is not where we are deploying it.


Thanks for your attention to this issue.
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www.esplanade.us using Firstspot

[alan]

Points taken. We will try our best to improve our documentation in the future version.

One more thing is that there is an additional technical FAQ at http://www.patronsoft.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=2 that you might find it useful.
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~ Patronsoft Limited ~

[Jagungal]

If there are a variety of backend systems then maybe these should be documented.

At the moment the PHP interface is not the fastest or most intuitive interface that one might use.

It also makes a fool of a customer when they are told a feature is available, pass that info on to others but then find out that it is not really available, when they do testing.

Anyway .. after more discussion, testing and research, other alternatives are looking far better.

[esplanade]

I agree - however it is my belief that FIRSTSPOT is best of breed
towards that end PHP programmers are not hard to come by

agree that functionality needs to be better authenticated - in defence of Patronsoft - that can be done with better documentation

Glad to hear it is looking better - I am encouraged by patronsoft's willingness to listen to it's stakeholders
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www.esplanade.us using Firstspot