Captive Portal Configuration for Guest Wi-Fi

A captive portal is the splash page that appears when connecting to a guest Wi-Fi network, requiring users to accept terms of service or enter credentials before accessing the internet. It's common in hotels, cafes, and business lobbies. Many business Wi-Fi platforms (Ubiquiti UniFi, Cisco Meraki, Ruckus) support built-in captive portals without additional hardware. Configure it in the wireless SSID settings: enable captive portal, upload your logo and company name, add terms of service text, and choose authentication method (click-through, password, or voucher codes). For compliance: in some industries and jurisdictions, logging guest Wi-Fi connections (time, MAC address, acceptance of terms) provides a legal record. Ensure your captive portal logs this data and retain logs per your policy. Set a session timeout (e.g., 8 hours) so guests re-authenticate periodically. Test the captive portal flow from a mobile device to verify it works correctly across iOS and Android, which handle captive portals differently.