Vales WiFi

WiFi vouchers are access codes that guests redeem on a captive portal to get online. Each code carries its own rules - how long the session lasts, how fast, how many devices, whether it can be used once or many times - so the venue controls exactly who gets WiFi, for how long, and on what terms, without sharing a network password.

How voucher systems work

Vouchers are generated in batches from the WiFi platform or controller, each with an expiry and a usage profile. The venue distributes them however suits: printed on till receipts, tucked into hotel key-card wallets, shown on table talkers, or handed over the counter. The guest connects to the network, enters the code on the splash page, and the session starts with the code's limits enforced by the access point, commonly via RADIUS attributes.

Typical voucher attributes

• Duration - from one hour to the length of a hotel stay.
• Bandwidth caps - keeping any one guest from saturating the connection.
• Device limit - one code covering a family's phones, or strictly one device.
• Single-use or multi-use - a receipt code vs an event code shared with all attendees.
• Expiry - unused codes die quietly instead of circulating forever.

Where vouchers fit

Vouchers suit situations where access should follow a transaction or a stay: hotels issuing a code per room, cafes printing one with each purchase, Airbnb hosts leaving a code in the welcome book, and events issuing attendee codes. The trade-off against an open sign-in portal is data: a bare voucher tells you nothing about the guest, so many venues combine the two - the code plus a quick email step - keeping control of access while still feeding email capture and everything downstream. Compare paid WiFi, which swaps the code for a card payment on the same portal.

For how CaptiFi does this, including generating batches from the dashboard and printing codes from the till through the voucher API, see WiFi vouchers and POS.