Legacy Open Mesh: Using Paypal in CloudTrax 4

Topic

This article describes how to configure PayPal to integrate with splash pages for Open Mesh access points.

Environment

• PayPal
• CloudTrax
• Open Mesh Access Points

Description

With PayPal, you can charge users for access to your network based on time increments or bandwidth tiers.

Key features

• All payments go directly to you; Open Mesh does not take a cut.
• Under Paypal's Website Payments Standard, you will only pay transactions fees—no commission or monthly payments.
• You keep control of the look and feel of your splash page and only add a PayPal Buy Now button.
• With automatic MAC Authentication, you can allow users to roam between nodes without seeing the splash page again.
• You can offer multiple bandwidth tiers, or provide a free lower-speed service tier and one or more paid tiers at higher speeds.

Steps you will take

1. Create a Business PayPal account where you can receive payments. You can also use existing accounts.
2. Enable auto-return and Payment Data Transfer in PayPal and integrate this into CloudTrax
3. Create a Buy Now button and payments page at PayPal.
4. Integrate PayPal into your CloudTrax splash page.

Procedure

The following procedure requires a Business Paypal account with PayPal Payments Standard enabled. If you are creating a new account, navigate to https://www.paypal.com/bizsignup/, and select PayPal Payments Standard when configuring your account.

If you have a Personal PayPal account, you can upgrade to a business account to access the required features.

Enable auto-return

Auto return brings your customers back to the splash page after completing their payment.

1. On your Paypal home screen, click the gear icon and select Website payments from the drop-down.

Figure 1: Profile and settings

2. Click the Update link next to Website preferences.

Figure 2: Website payments

3. Select the On radio button under Auto return and paste the following link in the Return URL field, then click Save: https://paypal.cloudtrax.com/v2/return.

Figure 3: Auto return preferences

Enable payment data transfer

Payment data transfer notifies you of successful payments as they are made. You must enable auto return to enable payment data transfer.

1. Select the On radio button under Payment data transfer.

2. Copy the Identity Token value. You will use this in a future step.

Figure 4: Auto return preferences

3. In a separate window, open a CloudTrax session. From the drop-down list, select the network to link with this PayPal account.

4. Select Configure, then click Vouchers from the drop-down menu.

5. Scroll down to the PayPal section and set the values accordingly:

• Clients Per Voucher: Number of Client Devices per PayPal purchase. Typically one to five (maximum 10). If you are running a coffee shop, you will likely want one device. If you run a hotel or apartment complex, you might want to set this to 3 to 5 to cover multiple guests and their laptops, phones, tablets, etc.
• Download Bandwidth: Download bandwidth per client device (in Mbps) for PayPal.
• Upload Bandwidth: Upload bandwidth per client device (in Mbps) for PayPal.
• PayPal Identity Token: This is the unique string of numbers and letters you copied from the PayPal website. Paste it here.

Figure 5: Voucher settings

Creating your Buy Now button

1. Return to the PayPal home page. Click the Tools tab, then select All Tools from the drop-down menu.

Figure 6: The PayPal homepage

2. On the Tools page, click PayPal buttons.

Figure 7: PayPal tools

3. Select the Buy Now button.

Figure 8: Create payment buttons

Enabling the Buy Now button

1. On the Button creation screen, enter Internet Access in the Item Name box.

Figure 9: The button creation screen

2. In a separate window, log into your CloudTrax account, then navigate to Configure ? SSID, and copy the Item ID string under PayPal.

Figure 10: PayPal Item ID

3. Return to the window hosting your PayPal setup. Paste the Item ID string that you copied in the previous step into the Item ID field. This Item ID is how Datto Networking will know what network users belong to when they purchase.

Figure 11: Item ID in PayPal configuration

4. In the Customize Button section, select the Add drop-down menu with price/option checkbox.

Figure 12: Customize button

5. Enter Purchase or a title of your choice in the Name of drop-down menu field.

6. Enter the duration and price values in the Menu option name and Price fields. Datto Networking processes time durations entered as numerical hours, days, weeks, and months (i.e., 3 hours).

Figure 13: Customize button

For non-English words, modify the PayPal-generated code. The following example replaces the English word hour with the Spanish equivalent hora:

<option value="1 hour">1 hora $1.00 USD</option>

7. At the bottom of the button creation box, expand Step 3: Customize advanced features (optional).

Figure 14: Customize advanced features

8 Set the following options to No:

• Do you want to let your customer change order quantities?
• Can your customer add special instructions in a message to you?
• Do you need your customer’s shipping address?

Figure 15: Customize checkout pages

9. Select the Add Advanced Variables checkbox, and in the box below, enter:

notify_url=https://paypal.cloudtrax.com/v2/notify

return=https://paypal.cloudtrax.com/v2/return

Figure 16: Add advanced variables

15. Click Create Button at the bottom of the page.

16. Review your newly created button. When you finish, click the Select Code button, copy the HTML code, and paste it into a notepad for future use.

Figure 17: Website HTML

Adding the button to your splash page

1. Return to the web session for your network.

2. Navigate to Configure ?Vouchers, and scroll to the PayPal section.

3. Configure the following options:

• Clients Per Voucher: Enter the number of client devices per PayPal purchase, you can add up to ten.
• Download Bandwidth: Enter the download bandwidth per client device in Kbps.
• Upload Bandwidth: Enter the upload bandwidth per client device in Kbps.
• PayPal Identity Token: Paste the Identity Token value from Enabling auto-return and Payment Data Transfer (PDT).

1. In the same web session for your network, navigate to Configure ? SSID.

2. Scroll to the Splash page section.

Figure 18: Splash page configuration

3. Select Custom as your Splash page type.

4. Click the Edit Splash Page button.

5. Using the Template drop-down, select your configured Splash Page or another template pre-staged.

6. Click the HTML editing (<>) button at the top left of the editor.

Figure 19: Edit splash page

7. Scroll the page down to the bottom. Look for the lines <-- PayPal Button Start --> and <-- PayPal Button End -->.

Figure 20: Sample HTML

8. Select the sample PayPal button code (everything between the above lines) and delete it. Paste the copied HTML code generated from Creating your Buy Now button.

9. Click the Preview tab below your splash page to review. Look for a voucher entry field and your new PayPal Buy Now button.

10. Click Save Changes. It will take 10-15 minutes for all access points on the network to update.

Testing your new splash page with PayPal

1. Connect to your configured SSID. The splash page should display along with your PayPal Buy Now button.

2. Click the Buy Now button.

Figure 21: Completed PayPal button

3. Purchase one of your options using a different PayPal account, or use the Credit card as a PayPal Guest option.

4. After completing the purchasing process, a transaction verification page will display, alongside your Voucher Code. This page also sends the code to the email address used in the purchasing process.

Figure 22: Voucher Code

5. Click Begin Browsing. Verify that you can browse the Internet.