Free Access

Run a promo day, community event, or temporary open Wi‑Fi without collecting vouchers. Free Access turns billing off on selected routers so guests get internet with no login — then restores normal Hotspot / captive portal when you turn it off (or when a scheduled end time hits).

In plain language

Normal operation: customers open Wi‑Fi, see the captive portal, and buy or enter a voucher. With Free Access on, that login step is skipped for everyone on the selected routers — open internet until you restore billing.

Works on MikroTik and Ruijie / Reyee (after Make Live). It is not Outage Compensation (giving paid time/data back) and not IP Bindings (one device always online by MAC).

When to use Free Access

Need	Use
Everyone free today — event, promo, “open Wi‑Fi for 2 hours”	Free Access
Printer / POS / camera always online, no login	IP Bindings
Customers lost paid time after a power cut	Outage Compensation
Sell Wi‑Fi with codes as usual	Vouchers / Packages (keep Free Access off)

Where to find it

Open Free Access under Grow in the sidebar (next to Advertisements and Compensation).
View needs Settings view permission (viewSettings). Turn on / restore needs Settings edit (editSettings).
You need at least one reachable MikroTik (WireGuard) and/or Ruijie gateway that has been Made Live (Ruijie needs a captive portal policy NettPortal can toggle).

How it works (under the hood)

MikroTik

NettPortal moves customer Hotspot bridge ports onto the LAN bridge so traffic bypasses the captive portal. Optionally it pauses Hotspot and/or PPPoE billing services on the router. When you restore billing, ports move back and services come back on. Snapshots are stored so restore is reliable even if the bridge list changed.

Default: all customer ports. You can customize specific ether/wlan ports if you only want one wing of the building free.

Ruijie / Reyee

After Make Live, NettPortal disables the EXTERNAL captive portal policy in Ruijie Cloud (policyEnable = false). Guests get open Wi‑Fi. Restore turns the policy back on. Port and PPPoE pause options apply to MikroTik only — they are hidden for Ruijie-only selections.

If Make Live was never run, Free Access cannot toggle the policy — finish Hotspot Setup first.

Turn free access on

Open Free Access. Status should say Billing is active.
Apply to: Entire network, or Selected routers only (check the ones you want). Offline / unreachable routers cannot be selected.
Optional — Resume billing automatically: pick a date and time. NettPortal restores billing when that time passes (cron). Leave empty to keep free until you turn it off yourself.
MikroTik only: leave ports on defaults (recommended), or Customize ports. Optionally pause Hotspot and/or PPPoE billing services.
Click Turn on free access, read the confirm message, then Confirm.
Check Router activity below: each router shows Free access on, Failed, or Working…. Use Retry failed routers if something did not apply.

Manage while it is active

Free Access is not all-or-nothing after the first turn-on. You can mix routers:

Add routers to free access — enable more sites without touching ones already free.
Restore selected — put specific routers back on billing; others stay free.
Turn off all — restore billing everywhere Free Access was applied.
Restore billing on a single row in Router activity — one router only.
Status shows when Free Access started, when billing will resume (if scheduled), which MikroTik ports/services were paused, and which routers are still free.

Router status meanings

Badge	Meaning
Working…	Change in progress
Free access on	Confirmed open / no login on that router
Failed	Could not apply or restore — read the message; retry when the router is reachable
Billing restored	Captive portal / normal billing is back

Important caveats

No vouchers while free. Guests will not hit your buy page on those routers. Turn Free Access off before you expect sales again.
Multi ISP conflict (MikroTik). Multi ISP cannot be applied while Free Access is active on that router — turn Free Access off first.
Not a refund. Free Access does not extend voucher expiry or credit GB. Use Compensation for paid time lost during outages.
Scheduled end restores the whole Free Access session when the time passes — it does not mean “pause and resume later” for individual vouchers.
Reachability. MikroTik needs WireGuard; Ruijie needs Cloud credentials and a live Make Live policy. Failed routers stay on whatever state they had until you retry.
Mixed fleets are fine — enable Free Access on MikroTik sites, Ruijie sites, or both in one session.

Related guides

Captive Portal — brand Wi‑Fi login (turned off while Free Access is on)
Promotions — package discounts / data bonus (not open Wi‑Fi)
Outage Compensation — credit paid time/data after downtime
IP Bindings — one device bypass by MAC (MikroTik)
Ruijie Gateways — Make Live so Free Access can toggle portal policy
Multi ISP — turn Free Access off before applying failover / load balance

Documentation