If the Public Spot operator does not want to offer this service free of charge, connection data has to be collected and billed for each user. Typical methods include: Purchase of a limited amount of online time (pre-paid model), retrospective payment of consumed resources (post-paid model), or unrestricted access until a certain time (e.g. checking out of a hotel).
For smaller Public Spot installations, accounting functions should be as simple as possible, and they should be implemented locally in the device. Larger installations offer the facilities for billing via an external RADIUS server. For each application scenario, the connection to an external system can also be implemented using a software interface which has access to the accounting data and can control the user authentication (e.g. hotel reservation systems).
