You join a café's Wi-Fi, open your browser, and instead of your homepage you see the café's logo and a "Connect" button. That page is a captive portal: a web page guests must pass through before they get internet access.
How a captive portal works
- A guest joins your Wi-Fi network. Their phone gets an address, but internet access is held back.
- The phone checks whether it's really online. Your router intercepts that check and shows the portal page instead, which is why the login page pops up on its own.
- The guest taps "Connect", enters a voucher code or accepts your terms.
- The portal tells your router to let that device through, with the limits you chose: how long, how fast, how much data.
Why businesses use one
- No shared password. Nothing to print, rotate or explain at the counter.
- Fair use. Time and speed limits stop one guest from slowing everyone else down.
- Your brand. Guests see your name and terms, then go on to your website if you like.
- Control. Hand out vouchers, decide who gets longer sessions, see who is online.
- Separation. Guest devices stay on their own network, away from your tills and office PCs.
Cloud captive portal vs. built-in
Many routers have a basic built-in hotspot page. A cloud captive portal like MojoWiFi keeps the login page, vouchers and reports in one dashboard for all your locations, works the same on different hardware brands, and keeps working when you replace a router.
How to set one up
If you have a UniFi gateway, a MikroTik router or a TP-Link Omada controller, you can connect it to MojoWiFi in about ten minutes. If you don't have business Wi-Fi gear yet, our hardware advisor suggests a kit that arrives ready to plug in.