Businesses Can Offer Free WiFi via Facebook or Instagram. But Should Customers Feel Safe Using It?

By B.N. Frank

Facebook continues to offer all kinds of services despite the company’s bad reputation for privacy violations and other shenanigans (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). So would you want to use free WiFi if you knew it was offered by Facebook or Instagram?

From Forbes:

Facebook WiFi Is An Easy Way To Give Your Customers Internet Access

If you run a small business and want to offer your customers free WiFi access, what’s the best way to do it? You could set up a guest network using your router and hope your data will be safe from hackers or over-curious customers. If you do, then there some other things you need to consider such as setting up a secure password and a limit for how long a customer can stay online. No one wants someone who has mistaken your café or shop for a home office and buys just one coffee while staying all day and using the toilet, heating and lighting.

Instead of setting up your own customer WiFi, there is an easier way. You can outsource your customer WiFi to Facebook and Instagram. My attention was drawn to this service by Camilo Breddels from Engenius Europe. Engenius makes wireless routers, switches and access points for businesses and I’ve reviewed some of the company’s products in the past. They are well made and certainly on a par with Netgear when it comes to quality and functions. The company says its Engenius Cloud routers are the only models that support both Facebook and Instagram WiFi, although I’m sure it won’t stay that way for too long.

Facebook WiFi does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to setting up a customer WiFi portal. All the parameters and security settings required for getting a customer WiFi portal up and running are done for you.

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