Couple of pre buying questions.

[miamipoker]

Questions:
1. I have about 10 routers in a mesh network through www.open-mesh.com. They currently have a "dashboard" that allows me to see the status and speed of each router so I know when one of them is down or not recieving a good singal. If I get your software will I still be able to use those dashboard features?
2. If I buy the software now will I get verision 5 of version 6 this is just coming out? If the answer is version 5 does that mean I'll have to pay again for version 6 once it's fully released?
3. Does this software run online with you guys or do I need to have it running on my server and always connected to the internet ?

That should be it for now.
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MP

[miamipoker]

Another question: I'm running this in a condo hotel. i have a few unit owners that are paying me for internet on an annual basis.. can I assign them a login and password with a 1 year expiration on it?
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MP

[alan]

1) Yes. FirstSpot is hardware neutral and it won't interfere with your hardware.

2) The new v6 pricing will be ready within May. For your case, you can purchase now and I will give you the v6 right for free

3) FirstSpot needs to connect to the Internet once during startup for a quick online license validation. After that, FirstSpot is not depended on your Internet connection.

4) Yes. You can create account that suspends at a certain date. Check out the Configuration Manager -> Users -> "Conditions to suspend this account".
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~ Patronsoft Limited ~

[miamipoker]

As I said above, I have mesh network at a condo/hotel with about 10 routers. My question is when I install firstspot does it have to be on a computer located at the hotel? There really isn't any place to put a computer in any of the rooms over there.. Can I put the software on a computer in my house that is connected to the internet or does it need to be located somewhere on the network in the hotel?
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MP

[alan]

Well, FirstSpot needs to be in the outgoing path of your visitor network. In other words, client traffic needs to go through FirstSpot before reaching the Internet at large.

Refer to http://patronsoft.com/firstspot/topologies.html for some examples of FirstSpot topologies.
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~ Patronsoft Limited ~

[miamipoker]

Ok.. Thanks for the reply.. Last question just to make sure..

My mesh network has 3 gateways. (Cable connections to the internet) so I would have to have a computer and copy of firstSpot between each of those gateways?

Thanks

MP
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MP

[alan]

Yes, that will be one possible setup.

Alternatively, if you have control on the outgoing path or you can setup VPN tunnel, you can place FirstSpot in a centralized location. Again, please check out Scenario 3 from the above link.
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~ Patronsoft Limited ~