17 years
We have free Wi-fi and desktop computers, price € 1,50 per hour. No software for payment: there´s a box to drop the coins into, which turns on the monitor. Easy and fool-proof.
Providing Internet Access for Hostel Guests
Internet Access and Computers
This forum is for discussions about providing Internet access for guests.
* Does your hostel provide Internet access?
* Is it wireless, email kiosks, or desktop computers?
* If you charge for Internet access, what software do you use for managing payments?
* Do you wish that you had done things differently?
* What works and what doesn't?
Also feel free to post questions about computers and troubleshooting them...
- Comments
17 years
our wireless is free but computers are not. We use Cybercafe but it has limitations. Does anyone use an internet cafe program that people log on with using pin-codes that they think is awesome?
17 years
Is this the program you are using?
http://www.cybercafepro.com/
What are the problems with it?
17 years
I'm not the one in charge of it, so i'll have to ask the person who handles it..but really what we want is to find a way to 'scrub' the computers so we can allow people to upload photos and download tickets. right now we don't allow that because of all the viruses that have shown up.
i do know that lately some of the pincodes generated have not worked even though they show time, but there are other issues.
17 years
Here is a program that reverts Internet cafe computers back to a default setting on every boot:
http://www.faronics.com/html/deepfreeze.asp
(i.e., removes any viruses that were accidentally installed)
17 years
If you try that program let me know how it goes. I'm interested to know if it's any good. I'm pretty sure that is the program that a lot of Internet cafes in the UK are using.
17 years
I have forwarded the URL to our techie to have a look. We might give it a test run sometime soon.
14 years
On the point of internet access, most countries now offer fast reliable internet access for more than reasonable rates. This to me comes to the point of value adding services.
With a competitive market, it can be the small things that take a good hostel and turn it into a great hostel.
Free internet is just one of these things, as business owners we can often fall into the trap 'of wanting to make money on everything' this in effect can shoot you in the foot.
One of the main complaints we often see about hostels is expensive internet, or the other is free internet but so slow it is basically pointless.
There are so many ways to vet internet use to stop abuse of the service, but with the advent of cheap almost unlimited access personally I believe it is a service that should be given free to the staying backpacker.
Would love to know your thoughts...
14 years
I don't believe in charging guests for every little thing, hence why wireless is free, printing docs is free and we give free breakfast and free laundry soap, but i could not disagree more on the internet.
There are hard costs associated with keeping the computers up to date and virus free, maintaining the equipment, paying for a COMMERCIAL grade internet service which can be 4xs more expensive than a residential line and paying for tech services. I've been to hostels with free internet - it's one walk up computer you can even use skype on and the wait is 2 hours to use it.
At our hostels there are between 5 and 12 internet computers depending on teh hostel size. They are generally fast, reliable and you can skype away all day. Because of skype we sell way fewer calling cards then we used to sell...a lost profit there too.
People already whinge when the free wireless goes down..i can imagine the uproar if the walk ups went down also...and they would stay down a lot longer if they were not a profit center...
So, nice to provide but a real hit to the bottom line if we couldn't make a $$$ back to maintain the system.
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