D-Link Unveils New Hot Spot Billing Printer

The D-Link Airspot Ticket Printer, available this week for an MSRP of $399.99, includes password printing and time allotment than can optionally tie hot spot billing directly to the cash register, according to D-Link.

The ticket printer is designed to be used in conjunction with the D-Link Airspot Gateway to create a hot spot out of the box solution for popular hot spot locations such as coffee shops, book stores and hotels.

When connected to D-Link's Airspot Gateway's serial port, the ticket printer pulls user names, passwords and access time from the gateway, which eliminates difficulties in training employees about specialized computer equipment or billing programs. The ticket printer can be placed up to 50 feet from the gateway with the use of a standard RS-232 serial cable, according to the company.

The printer can be programmed, via the gateway, to assign users with access times from five minutes up to one week and prints on standard-sized thermal paper.

The Airspot Gateway's management features include the ability to custom design welcome pages, authenticate and authorize who can long on to the public WLAN, and determine how much bandwidth is consumed and where users can surf the Web.

The previously-announced gateway, available this week for an MSRP of $599.99, can manage up to 250 user accounts in its database and it supports POP3, RADIUS, and LDAP external authentication for larger scale hot spot implementations.