Purple’s tiered bandwidth solution provides a revenue stream by charging guests for WiFi usage.
Tiered Bandwidth allows you to limit user access based on:
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Time: When the limit is reached and usage continues, a charge to the guest is incurred
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Speed: Users have the option to upgrade to a faster WiFi service for a charge
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Usage: You can set a threshold on data usage. As an example, you may wish for guests who are streaming videos (and using a higher proportion of the allocated bandwidth) to be charged
To access Tiered Bandwidth settings, select Management > Tiered Bandwidth from within the portal.
The designs of the page where plans display to the visitor cannot be customized.
If the network is on a mobile data plan (i.e. SIM card), you must ensure the data follows the same path in and out of the network for authentications to succeed.
Plan usage
If the plan is consumed in full or expires, the device does not always trigger an alert to advise the user their session has expired and therefore in some instances the user must reconnect to the WiFi manually.
Create a Free Plan
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Click Add new free plan.
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Complete the plan information as follows:
Plan name
Name of the plan, for example, Free WiFi plan.
Description
Description of the plan.
Concurrent devices
Choose the number of devices a visitor can use at the same time for this plan. Free reset period
The amount of time a visitor must wait before they can access this plan again. Time limit
The length of time a visitor can use the WiFi on this plan. Data limit
Select this option if you want to limit the amount of data the visitor can download and upload. Speed limit
Select this option if you want to limit the download or upload speed for the visitor. Aruba user role
This is only for Aruba APs. If you do not have an Aruba AP leave this blank. If you do have an Aruba AP: enter the user role name which must also be set up on the Aruba AP. Price
Amount for the plan. Leave this blank for the free plan.
Paid currency
Unit of currency you want to use for the payment. Leave this blank for the free plan.
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Click Save plan.
Create a Paid Plan
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Click Add new paid plan
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Complete the plan information as follows:
Plan name
Name of the plan, for example, 30 minute access.
Price
The amount and currency for the plan.
Description
Description of the plan.
Concurrent devices
Choose the number of devices a visitor can use at the same time for this plan. Time limit
The length of time a visitor can use the WiFi on this plan. Data limit
Select this option if you want to limit the amount of data the visitor can download and upload. Speed limit
Select this option if you want to limit the download or upload speed for the visitor. Aruba user role
This is only for Aruba APs. If you do not have an Aruba AP leave this blank. If you do have an Aruba AP: enter the user role name which must also be set up on the Aruba AP. -
Click Save plan.
Set the plan as live: Add it to an Access Journey
From the company level:
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Click Onboarding > Access journeys, then select the access journey you want to apply the tiered bandwidth to.
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Click Tiered Bandwidth and select Enable tiered bandwidth:
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Select the plans you want to make available on the Access Journey.
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If you enable a paid plan, select the payment options you wish to use (for PayPal, Windcave and Worldpay, you must set up each connector first).
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Save and Publish the Access Journey.
Payment Methods
End user payment options include:
Google Pay is not supported as a payment option. Google Pay has disabled support for embedded browsers, meaning devices cannot use this payment method inside a Captive Network Assistant (CNA).
If you are using Stripe, there is a commission rate of 10%. To receive payments it is required that you contact the Billing Team.
We are unable to process payments of a value less then 30p using the default payment option of Stripe.
Transactions can be viewed in your 'Billing and purchases' section. This is found via the person icon in the top-right of the screen once you've logged into the platform.
If you are using one of the listed connector options, transactions will be viewable within each platform.
Generate Vouchers for a Paid Plan
Vouchers are implemented via the Management > Tiered Bandwidth option from the platform’s left-hand side menu. They can only be implemented at Company level; not at Group or Venue level.
From ‘Your current plans’, select the three dots and choose ‘Vouchers’ from the dropdown menu:
A pop-up will appear where you can choose:
- The number of vouchers available for the tiered bandwidth plan (a maximum of 500 can be selected)
- The date the voucher is valid until (inclusive)
- Whether the voucher can be used more than once
Select the ‘Reusable?’ box to enable reusable vouchers, then click ‘Generate’:
Voucher end user process
The voucher codes are sent to your portal account’s email address. You can then distribute these codes to your visitors.
Voucher codes are sent in plain text format attached to emails.
When attempting to access a network that requires voucher access, the following screen will show. The user needs to paste the 10 digit voucher code into the box then select 'Redeem code':
Multiple codes can be redeemed. After redeeming, the next step is to select which plan to activate:
After clicking 'Activate', another screen will show where the user needs to select 'Continue online'. The user will then have full access to the selected plan.
Voucher Metrics
Information for all vouchers created in future will include:
- When the code was activated
- How many times the voucher code has been used (if reusable)
- The email addresses that activated WiFi via a voucher code. This enables improved communications targeting
Vouchers created before the latest update (from 15-Sep-2023) will not include historical usage data.
To find the metrics, log into the platform at the Company level and select Management > Tiered Bandwidth from the left-hand sidebar menu.
From the list of plans, if the plan has vouchers created then its name will be a hyperlink (e.g. Test in the example below):
Click this hyperlink to be taken to a page which lists the vouchers for the plan, along with details such as the number of times it has been used (for reusable vouchers), whether it is reusable, and when it's valid until:
If a voucher has been used, you can click on the voucher name to see information around the specific usages (e.g. the email of who used it and when it was activated).