Webpage redirect on a home router?

JohnnyBiggles · November 2011

Typically, in a public wi-fi accessible establishment, you connect without having to enter a key to access the network's wireless internet. Then, no matter what website you try to access, it redirects you to their page first, informing you of the rules and guidelines of using their wireless internet network, and you must either check a box indicating you have read and understood the rules, or, sign in using a username and password granted to you already (like at a hotel).

Is this possible to do on a home router (such as a Linksys or Netgear)? If so, how? Is this done on the router itself or a server somewhere? Something else?

Everyone · November 2011

What you are describing is called a "Captive Portal". I don't know of any home (read consumer grade) wireless router that has this feature built in, but you can use one along with a pfSense (which is free) box to set this up pretty easily. See: Captive Portal - PFSenseDocs

Almost forgot, Wifidog is another one you may want to look at, it is just a Captive Portal suite, and nothing else. While pfSense has a Captive Portal feature, it is mainly a firewall, and has a lot of other features. If all you want is a Captive Portal and nothing else, something like Wifidog, which is free as well, may be better suited.

JohnnyBiggles · November 2011

Thanks for the info. I'll look it up.

NewManSoon · November 2011

There are many home routers that can be flashed with DD-WRT or Tomato that support this feature. My router (linksys wrt54gl) has more than one way of setting this up.

Slowhand · November 2011

Newer home routers, like the Cisco-Linksys E-series, have the feature you're talking about. You can set up a "Guest" network, which requires you to hop onto the portal page and either agree to the terms and/or enter a passkey. I'm not sure how much further the devices go, like being able to generate random keys like you see in coffee shops for example, (that's more up the alley of SonicWall and the like.)

Webpage redirect on a home router?

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