SimpliFi ISP admin guide
From sign-up to your first sale — and the daily routine after that. This guide is for ISP owners and their staff. Menu names match the left sidebar of your dashboard.
1. Create your workspace (2 minutes)
- Open the SimpliFi website and press Start free trial.
- Enter your business name. Your workspace address is suggested from it (for example
kumasi-campus) — your admin and WiFi portal live there. Change it if you like; it must be 3–30 lower-case letters, numbers or hyphens. - Enter your name, mobile number (for the welcome SMS), e-mail and a password.
- Keep Create starter packages for me ticked to get 1 Hour, Daily, Weekly and Monthly plans.
- Press Create my workspace. You are signed in automatically and land on Getting started.
You receive a welcome SMS and e-mail with your sign-in link. The free trial includes every feature.
Invited by another ISP? Use their referral link — they earn credit when you start paying.
2. Getting started checklist
The Getting started stepper walks you through six steps. Each step ticks itself when the work is done (also if you do it from another page), and you can Skip for now and come back later from the dashboard checklist.
Branding
Upload your logo (PNG/JPG/WebP) and pick your colours. They appear on the captive portal, receipts, vouchers and your app icon. Change them any time under Settings › General.
Site
A site is a location where you sell WiFi: a shop, hostel block, estate or campus. Reports and packages can be split per site.
Router
Link the device that controls access:
- MikroTik — choose Cloud Sync. Copy the one-line script and paste it into the router's terminal (Winbox › New Terminal). It works behind any internet connection: no public IP, port forwarding or VPN. The router shows online within a minute.
- TP-Link Omada, UniFi — enter your controller details.
- Ruijie, Grandstream, Cambium, OpenWrt and others — RADIUS mode.
The guided setup assistant (when available) checks each step with you. Full instructions: MikroTik setup and Other routers in the documentation.
Packages
Packages are what customers buy: price, time (e.g. 1 day), speed and optional data cap. Use the one-click presets, then adjust prices in Sales › Packages. Tips:
- Keep 3–5 packages; put your best seller in the middle.
- "Free trial" packages let new visitors browse for a few minutes (Settings › Hotspot).
- Data bundles (e.g. 1 GB) need RADIUS or a router that reports usage.
Payments
Cash already works: staff record cash sales and print vouchers. To let customers pay on their phones, connect a gateway in Settings › Payments:
- Paystack — Mobile Money prompts for MTN, Telecel and AirtelTigo plus cards. Fastest to start.
- Hubtel — Online Checkout or direct Receive Money prompts.
- MTN MoMo — your own MTN Collections account.
- Payment link — any bank or payment page (GTBank/Squad, ExpressPay, Zeepay…).
Start in test mode, make a test purchase, then switch to live. Money settles to your own account.
SMS
Customers get their WiFi code, receipts and expiry reminders by SMS. Under Settings › SMS either
buy SMS credits with Mobile Money or connect your own smsfactory.henapp.org account, and set a
sender ID (up to 11 characters, e.g. KUMASIWIFI).
Finish
Open your captive portal link to see what customers see, then Go to my dashboard.
3. Your first sale
- Connect a phone to your hotspot WiFi. The login page (captive portal) opens automatically — if it
does not, open any
http://website. - Choose a package, enter a Mobile Money number and approve the prompt on the phone.
- The phone goes online and receives an SMS with its login code.
- In the dashboard you see the payment under Sales › Payments and the customer under Users › Active Users.
No gateway yet? Sell a voucher instead: Sales › Vouchers › Sell, take cash, and the customer types the code on the portal.
4. Everyday work
| Task | Where |
|---|---|
| Who is online, disconnect someone | Users › Active Users |
| Find a customer, see their history | Users › Customers (or the search box at the top) |
| Sell / print vouchers | Sales › Vouchers |
| Home & office internet (monthly) | Users › PPPoE Users |
| Block a device | Users › Blocked Devices |
| Agents selling vouchers for commission | Sales › Agents |
| Today's money, charts and reports | Dashboard, Sales › Revenue History, Reports |
| Router status and health | Devices › Routers |
| SMS campaigns to customers | Communication › SMS Campaigns |
| Portal look, adverts, loyalty points | Settings › Captive Portal, Communication › Advertisements, Users › Loyalty Points |
The eye icon in the top bar hides money amounts when someone is looking over your shoulder.
4a. Fair use on monthly internet (data allowance)
If a PPPoE package has a data allowance, SimpliFi counts what each subscriber uses and acts on it for you. Set the allowance on the package (Sales › Packages, Speed & Performance) and choose what happens when it is finished: reduce the speed (the customer stays online, slower) or stop the internet.
The allowance is per billing period, not for life. It starts again on its own when:
- the subscriber pays their bill and the plan is renewed;
- you move them to another package (a different package means a different allowance);
- you reactivate a suspended or expired account with a new expiry date;
- the period simply rolls over — SimpliFi checks every hour and starts the new one for you.
When the allowance starts again, the full speed is pushed back to the router straight away, so a customer who pays is never left slow.
Where to look
- Users › PPPoE Users — the Data this period column shows used of allowance with a small bar (a dash for unlimited plans), and a green dot shows who is online right now. The Over allowance and Reduced speed chips filter the list to the subscribers you want.
- Open a subscriber — the Data this period card shows used, allowance, what is left, when the period started, when it starts again, their speed right now, and when they are slowed down, why. Reset allowance now starts the period again and restores the full speed immediately — for goodwill, when a customer asks nicely and you agree.
- Reports › PPPoE subscribers — total data used this period, how many are on a reduced speed, and a Top data users table so you can see who your heaviest customers are.
What the customer sees. On your portal (Internet account) they see their data used, what is left and when it starts again. When they are slowed down the page says so plainly, tells them the date it clears, and offers the renew / pay button.
Messages. Two SMS go out once per period: a warning when they pass 80% of the allowance, and one when the reduced speed starts. Edit the wording in Communication › Message Templates (Fair use warning and Fair use speed reduced) or switch them off in Settings › Notifications.
5. Your team
Account › Team lists everyone who can sign in. Add staff with the role they need:
| Role | Can do |
|---|---|
| Owner | Everything, including billing and the team |
| Administrator | Day-to-day running: packages, routers, payments, settings, staff (except owners) |
| Cashier | Sell vouchers, record cash, see customers and payments |
| Sales agent | Sell vouchers from their own stock and see their commission |
| Support | Help customers: sessions, customers, feedback, routers (read-only) |
| Technician | Install and look after routers; never sees money |
When adding someone you can text them a temporary password (nobody else sees it) or set one yourself. Deactivate accounts of people who leave — their sales stay in your reports. Only owners can add or change owners and administrators, and the last owner can never be removed.
Everyone can change their name, photo and password under Your profile (top-right menu).
6. Install the app on your phone
SimpliFi works like an app without an app store:
- Android (Chrome): open your admin address and tap Install on the banner at the bottom (or menu ⋮ › Install app).
- iPhone (Safari): tap Share › Add to Home Screen › Add.
Your profile › Get the app shows a QR code of your admin address — scan it with your phone camera. Your customers can install your WiFi portal the same way.
7. Your own domain
Under Settings › Domain you can run SimpliFi on your own domain, e.g. wifi.yourbusiness.com:
- Enter the domain and press Connect domain.
- At your domain provider add the records shown: a CNAME (or A) record pointing to SimpliFi
and a TXT record
simplifi-verify=…on_simplifi.wifi.yourbusiness.com. - Message SimpliFi support so the domain is added to the server with an SSL certificate.
- Press Verify DNS. Once verified, links in SMS and receipts use your domain. Your normal SimpliFi address keeps working.
8. Billing
During the trial everything is free. Afterwards SimpliFi invoices your workspace each month — usually a small percentage of the revenue processed through SimpliFi (nothing in a month you earn nothing), or a fixed plan. See Account › Billing for your plan, invoices and payment with Mobile Money or card. Referral credit from ISPs you invited is applied automatically.
9. Getting help
- Account › Support: open a ticket — we see your workspace and reply there.
- Documentation: the Docs link at the top of the website.
- WhatsApp / phone: shown in the help menu at the top of your dashboard.
