Liveport FAQ's

Q. How large of an area will Liveport Cover?

A.Factors such as walls, construction materials and other wireless devices can all contribute to how far wireless access can reach. Also different wireless standards have differing ranges. (See comparison below)

Q. What kind of computers can access Liveport's network?

A. Unlike some other systems Liveport works with all wireless and most wired computers - Windows, Macintosh, Linux, even Palm Pilots and wireless PDA's.

Q. Do my customers have to load special software to access the hotspot?

A. Absolutely not. Liveport works with your customer's web browser and does not use special proprietary software.

Q. How do I set up the system? I am not at all technical. Do I need to hire someone to do this? 

A. The system was designed to be very simple to set up. All of the configuration will be done by us before we ship the unit to you, although you can make changes to all settings yourself if you wish. For most locations users will do the following to set up the system:

Unpack the unit.
Mount it in it's new location.
Plug into an electrical outlet.
Connect the Liveport to either your dedicated internet connection (Cable, DSL, satellite or T1).
Set up is done!

You do not need to hire someone to set up your system in most cases. If you wish to have it done professionally, any computer service technician (or most neighborhood high school kids) should be able to have it up and running in just a few minutes.

Q. What is the difference between wired and wireless clients? What is a client? 

A. A client is any device that can connect to the internet, a PC (desktop, laptop or tablet) a personal digital assistant or any other device. Wireless clients connect using one of several wireless standards, sometimes referred to as Wi-Fi. Wired clients plug into a wired connection, called Ethernet, with a connector that looks like a fat telephone plug.

Q. Can I charge my guests for access to the internet?
 

A. You can allow your users to pay for their access with a credit card. The optional credit card access module is software that is standard in all Liveport installations. It works in conjunction with the popular Google service and still allows you to determine the pricing and duration of the usage. Google charges a small per transaction fee, and you will need to establish a merchant account with Google. 

Q. What is the difference between Cable/DSL, Satellite and T1 vs. Dialup? 

A. Cable, DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), Satellite and T1 are dedicated higher speed internet connections, offered through the telephone company, a cable TV provider or an independent internet service provider. In addition to being faster than a dial up connection (anywhere from 5 to 50 times faster) they are always on and do not tie up a telephone line.

Dialup connections are slower and tie up your telephone line, often resulting in the need for a dedicated phone line. Usually, when comparing the cost of dialup and DSL or cable, by the time you add in the cost of the phone line and monthly fee to the internet service provider the costs are almost the same.

However some areas just can not get Cable or DSL, and T1 (a dedicated digital circuit from the telephone company) is usually just too expensive. For most of these locations Satellite is the best route to go using a provider such as DirecWay.
 

Q. What are the different wireless standards? Which one should I have? How do I update the system? 

A. Currently there are three wireless systems in use, all based on what is called the 802.11 standard.

802.11b is the oldest and most common standard. It is widely used, and the most common standard for wireless hotspots.

802.11g is a newer standard, providing faster connections and is backwards compatible with 802.11b. 802.11g can also yield slightly longer range under most circumstances. Many hotspots can also support 802.11g, and all 802.11g clients can use 802.11a. 

802.11a is the newest standard (yes, we realize "a" usually comes before "b", but we didn't name these things, really). It operates on a different frequency than the other two standards, and has the shortest range of all. Almost all 802.11a clients can use the other two standards.
 

So which one should you use? Our systems "speak" both 802.11b and 802.11g simultaneously. We recommend using both b & g standards.

Q. Can you update the system?

A. Absolutely. If a new standard evolves (and eventually it will) all you will need to do is purchase a new Merak Mini repeater from us online. If you have an Enhanced support contract with us we will upgrade them for free.
 

Q. Why don't you charge large monthly support fees like other Hotspot providers?

A. We don't charge large fees for support because maintenance is as simple as plugging in a new unit if one of the mesh nodes fails.You can monitor your own installation using our free online software and it will quickly show you which nodes are experiencing difficulty and why.

Now when you begin to track the reasons users have problems with accessing the wireless services it almost always comes down to three issues:

   1. User equipment (laptops) that were not properly configured or user equipment purposely configured not to connect to public networks (corporate laptops belonging to companies that do not want them connected to public networks for security purposes)

   2. Users who are unfamiliar with how to use their own equipment.

   3. Other applications interfering with their connection or proprietary on-line systems that do not conform to published network standards.

It should not be the responsibility of the hotel, motel or campground owner or other users to bear the financial costs of supporting these users. 

We do provide a cheat sheet for hotel, motel or campground owners to hand out to users if they do have problems. This 8.5 x11 laminated card has step by step instructions for PC's and Macs, and includes pictures and simple steps to follow if the user has problems.

For larger venues that do need end user support we offer Enhanced support packages.