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After you sign up, your dashboard opens on a checklist of five steps. You can return to it at any time from Complete setup in the sidebar, which shows how far along you are. This page follows the same five steps, in the same order.
Confirm your email first. Connecting payments, adding a router and publishing your login page stay locked until you open the link we sent you. See Confirm your email.

Step 1: Add a location

A location is one site where you sell WiFi, such as a café, a hostel or an estate. Each location keeps its own revenue and routers.
  1. Go to Locations.
  2. Select Add venue.
  3. Enter a Venue name and a Physical Address / Area.
  4. Select Add venue to save.

Step 2: Create a WiFi plan

A plan is what a guest buys on your login page. Start with one or two. You can add more later.
  1. Go to Plans.
  2. Select Create plan.
  3. Enter a Name your guests will understand, a Price, a Duration, and a Data limit (GB). Leave the data limit empty for unlimited data.
  4. Select Create plan to save.
The Create plan form with the name Weekend 3 GB, a price of 800, a duration of 2 days and a 3 GB data limit
That is enough to start selling. Designing your plans explains every other field, such as speed limits and device limits.

Step 3: Choose how you get paid

Go to Settings → Payments. Pick the option that matches what you chose at signup under Business registration status.
Use WifiPadi Instant Payments. You need no registered company and no payment account of your own. It is available in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda.
  1. On the WifiPadi Instant Payments card, select Set up Instant Payments.
    The WifiPadi Instant Payments card marked Recommended and No CAC required, showing Not configured, the message Add the bank account you want paid into, and a Set up Instant Payments button
  2. Give your name and the account you want to be paid into on the secure page that opens.
  3. Come back to Settings → Payments and select Check status.
You can sell once the card shows Enabled and a green message that guest payments collect in your Instant Payments balance. Your sales build up in that balance, and you withdraw them when you like.
The WifiPadi Instant Payments card showing Enabled, Available at customer checkout switched on, the Who pays the payment fee choice set to Guests pay it, and the green message Guest payments collect in your Instant Payments balance
On the same card, Who pays the payment fee? lets you choose whether guests pay the fee on top of your price or you cover it. You cover it unless you change it, so a ₦500 plan costs the guest exactly ₦500.Instant Payments in full, including how to add your bank account and withdraw.

Step 4: Put your router online

  1. Go to Gateways and select Add Router Gateway.
  2. Enter a Router Name, choose the Venue location, and pick your router under Hardware / Firmware Type.
  3. Select Provision Gateway, then select Copy command.
  4. Paste the command into your router and press Enter.
  5. Wait for the status to reach Online. This takes 1 to 2 minutes.
Onboard a gateway has the full steps for MikroTik and Nano Pi, and what to do if the install stops.

Step 5: Brand your login page

This is the page guests see when they join your WiFi, also called the captive portal.
  1. Go to Captive Portal.
  2. Enter your business name and a welcome message, and pick a brand color.
  3. Upload your logo.
  4. Under Guest support details, add a support email, a phone number and a WhatsApp link, so guests can reach you for help.
  5. Check the preview on the right.
  6. Select Save draft, then Publish portal. Guests only see your changes after you publish.
The Captive Portal page with the business name, welcome message, brand color and logo fields beside a live phone preview of the portal

Last step: Buy your own cheapest plan

This is the only test that proves everything works together.
  1. On a phone, join your WiFi. Your login page should open on its own.
  2. Buy your cheapest plan and pay for it.
  3. Check that the phone gets online within a few seconds.
  4. In your dashboard, check the payment shows under Payments as Successful.
If the payment takes minutes to confirm, see Connect the webhook. If the login page does not open, see Troubleshooting a gateway.

Worth doing early