FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions regarding WAVER Products

General

What is WAVER Guest WiFi solution?

WAVER Guest WiFi solution is a hardware-based, subscription-free, WiFi  authentication and marketing solution which uses Captive Portal authentication in order to interact with guests when connecting to a WiFi network.

Why Guest WiFi is important?

A recent study from BT Telecommunications giant found that 87% of consumers access the Internet while dining in a restaurant. Offering Guest WiFi at your restaurant, event venue, or retail store is a service your customers look for and expect.

Why properly configured Guest WiFi is important for your business?

Security: Most of the business owners are using the traditional ISP routers. In the best case, these devices are configured to provide WiFi using just a WPA key that allows guest and local devices to connect to the WiFi network. This network is used by local staff devices, printers, servers etc. and it poses a security threat if left unmanaged. WAVER Gateway will create a completely isolated Guest WiFi network, which means that a possible attacker will not be able to connect and “see” any devices, printer or servers. All guest details such as Device MAC, Device type, Login time, Login data etc. are being logged in the device’s internal memory, which allows administrators to troubleshoot easily any network security issues.

Performance: Unmanaged Guest WiFi it’s like the wild west. Everyone has experienced slow, unreliable connection or troubles while trying to connect to a WiFi service even with strong signal in a venue with multiple users. Usually this issue is “fixed” for a while after the staff reboots the main router, and returns after a while. This happens because most of the routers have limited resources and are not designed to handle the amounts of concurrent connections. Managing the Internet bandwidth is also essential when comes to sharing a single internet connection with multiple users. With WAVER you will be able to set easily the maximum allowed data and speed for each user that connects to your network, avoiding this way the whole network performance degradation. Our products have been especially designed to support multiple concurrent connections in order to give your venue 99.999% WiFi uptime.

Marketing: For your customers, having free WiFi improves their experience in your business, whether they’re dining, shopping, or sitting in your waiting room. In the long run by utilizing WiFi marketing they’ll get an improved experience more tailored to what they want. Your marketing strategy can be incredibly simple or you can have multiple marketing strategies at once all related to your Guest WiFi.

Branded Login:
As soon as your customer goes to access your WiFi, they can be greeted with a branded page that features a promotion, new product arrivals, or another message you are trying to share.

Email and Social Login: Email communications is essential for retail, restaurant, and other customer-service based industries. You can send targeted promotions, coupons, and all kinds of information that will bring visitors to your business. Social WiFi marketing works when your customer uses a social media account to login. By signing in with Facebook, you get an incredible amount of information along with contact information. Asking for an email address in order to access your Guest WiFi is much more likely to work and from there you have a direct method of communication straight from your WAVER device or by using a third-party marketing platforms by uploading the captured guest data.

Guest Feedback: Having reviews are an excellent way to improve your reputation and get the word out about your business. With WAVER you can get the reviews by using the internal Feedback system or by linking the login page to Google, TripAdvisor, Booking, Yelp or any third-party review page. This way you will always be able to learn more about how you can provide a better experience.

Paid Access: Using our solution you can advertise VIP Access using individual voucher codes for logging in and providing higher speeds by requesting from customers to pay for the premium service.

Who can use WAVER Products?

WAVER network gateways can be used by commercial real estate, airports, cruise ships, cafes, bars, restaurants, hotels, and any place people socialize. Any business or person can purchase our hardware and use it with any Internet connection anywhere in the world.

What is the pricing policy?

Our solution is completely hardware-based. By purchasing the hardware that fit your requirements, you will get all powerful features packed in a single box with lifetime free updates. There are no subscriptions or monthly fees.

How to choose the right WAVER Router/Gateway?

You can choose your WAVER Gateway depending on the maximum number of guests that are expected to use the WiFi service at the same time and based on the connection speed provided by your ISP. Calculate the active guests by counting the number of people being present in your venue during the peak hours.

Small venues: N-Series 200 or 500 active guests (up to 100 Mbps)
Small and Mid-sized venues: G-Series – 200 or 500 active guests (up to 1 Gbps)
Large-scale Hotspots: CTRX-110 – Unlimited active guest (up to 2 Gbps, Dual-WAN)

If you are not sure which WAVER product to choose, please feel free to ask our support team

 

Technical

What is Captive Portal?

A captive portal is a web page that a user must view and interact with before being given access needs to a public network. It is mainly used for authentication purposes and is usually in place for free WiFi hotspots, business centers, airports, lounges and lobbies.

How to setup Captive Portal?

No expert knowledge or coding needed. WAVER Products come with a powerful and easy to use Captive Portal editor which lets you create your own fully-branded portal. You can choose from a variety of different themes or create your own with your choice of colors, images, logos, videos, buttons and texts. 

What steps are needed in order to connect WAVER and activate Guest WiFi?

Installing WAVER Gateway is almost plug and play:

  1. Use the included Ethernet cable to connect the INTERNET/WAN1 Port of WAVER with the LAN Port of your ISP Router
  2. Connect the power supply and push the power switch to ON position
  3. Wait approximately 1m 30sec for the first boot
What kind of wireless Access Points can be used with WAVER Gateways?

Third-party Access Points can be used with WAVER as the main network gateway in order to expand network capacity and coverage. You can expand the advanced functionalities provided by our solution to a wider area by connecting your Access Points to the red GUEST Port of the WAVER Gateway. All Guest WiFi settings and Captive Portal features will be applied instantly to your existing infrastructure. WAVER products will work with any access point from any vendor working in bridge mode.

Tested Access Point vendors

– Mikrotik cAP *
– Ubiquiti UniFi *
– Cisco Systems *
– Engenius *
– Ruckus *
– D-Link *
– TP-Link *
– Samsung TV – SoftAP *
– LG TV – SoftAP *

* Trademarks and company names are the property of their respective owners.

What kind of data can WAVER collect from Guests?

The following data are always being captured by default:
– Device MAC
– Device IP
– Device Vendor
– Login Time
– Data usage

Depending on the configuration, the following data can be captured:
Facebook Login Authentication: Full name, Email, Visits (Login Count)
Email Connect Authentication: Extra fields (Name, Country, Age, Custom), Email, Visits (Login Count)
Mobile Authentication (SMS): Extra fields (Name, Country, Age, Custom), Mobile, Visits (Login Count)
Feedback system: User reviews and rating
Live! Menu (QR Menu): Product ratings, Email, Name, Mobile etc.

How many user data can be stored locally?

SmartOne N-Series ~ 300K
SmartOne G-Series ~ 500K
ControlX CTRX-110 ~ 1 Million 

What is the Live! Menu feature provided with WAVER Gateways?

The Live! Menu is a digital version of physical menu that is accessible for diners and drinkers on their smartphones during the login flow or after scanning a QR code. It is a free tool designed for restaurants, cafes, shops and other business types to provide their customers with an attractive digital menu and help them order with a few simple clicks directly from their smart devices.

What types of printers are compatible with WAVER Gateways?

When using the Username Authentication (Vouchers) or Live! Menu (Real-time order handling), it may be needed to have a printer in order to print tickets. Since the printing margins are completely adjustable via the printing dialog, you can use any printer connected with a smart device or computer. (thermal printers recommended)

How to control multiple WAVER devices centrally?

You can manage multiple WAVER Gateways installed in remote locations by using the PointX Centralized management platform. PointX has been especially designed for chain stores and service providers. It gives the ability to administrators to manage centrally user data stored on multiple locations. It offers centralized Captive Portal content and Email/SMS campaign management. During the initial setup, you can configure the remote device to sync with the PointX server before sending it to the customer location. This will make remote device installation completely plug-and play without requiring an IT on the remote side. If you have any questions regarding PointX, please feel free to ask our support team

E-Shop related

How to buy WAVER Products?

We recommend purchasing from our resellers near your location for faster delivery and lower shipping fees. You can order also directly from the product page, by selecting model and clicking the “Add to cart” button.

To which countries do you deliver?

We ship worldwide.

How much are the shipping costs?

Shipping costs are being calculated during the checkout, after providing the shipping address.

How long does the delivery take?

European Union (EU) – DPD Economy
Delivery time 4-8 days

USA, Canada and other countries – FedEx Intl. Priority
Delivery time 2-9 days

How can I return a product that I just bought?

In accordance with European Law, you have a period of fourteen (14) days from receipt of your item(s) to exercise your right to cancellation.  The item(s) must be returned in its original condition. Please note that you have to cover the costs of returning the items back to us.

In order to accept the returned unit, an RMA code needs to be issued by us.
Contact us for RMA at: returns@wavertech.eu

The RMA shipment number must be visible on the the return package, and if you use Wavertech invoice – it must be included in the shipment otherwise if you use your own invoice – you need to include printed RMA shipment unit list in the shipment, or the package will be rejected and returned to customer.

Once we have received the items in our logistics center, a refund is initiated immediately. You will first receive a confirmation Email to notify you of the number of items returned and the amount to be refunded. It may take up to 8 to 10 working days from receipt of our Email for the refund to show up in your account. The money will then be refunded by the same payment method used to make the initial purchase.
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Return address : 
WAVERTECH LTD.
VASIL MECHKUEVSKI 22
2700 BLAGOEVGRAD BG
Phone: +359 249 123 99