Forcing first page

Just a question I've been pondering every since I visited a hotel over the summer...

How do you force a first page on a wireless network?

For example, Joe connects to a Hotel wireless network...before he can reach the internet, he is presented with a front page where he must agree to TOS and click to continue...

How can you force the viewing of that first page on a wireless network? I'm not talking about an "in-house" robust network (with a proxy server), but can this be done from the router?

Can you set up a web server as part of the WAN that forces the showing of that first page?

I've seen it done a dozen times, but I can't figure it out.

This is a function of the hardware. Usually it is built into a firewall designed for the purpose. It will redirect all web requests to a TOS page that you can load into the firewall. When accepted, it logs the connection and usually redirects you to a hotel page. After that since your acceptance is logged, it allows you to go where you like. Many of these devices also provide some bandwith control so that one user does not eat up all the bandwidth at the expense of the other users. This could be built into the access point as well. The cheapest alternative is to get a linksys WRT54GL and load third party firmware on it for hotspot or portal capabilities.

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JPSchwartz
www.jpschwartz.com