From an internet-ready MikroTik to a working hotspot.

Before you begin

You need a supported MikroTik running RouterOS 7, a working internet connection on its WAN port, and permission to open its Terminal through Winbox or WebFig.

Keep these details nearby

• Your business and customer-support information.
• The first physical location where the router will operate.
• The price, speed, duration, data allowance and device limit for your first package.
• Your chosen customer-payment method and its business credentials where applicable.

The seven-step operator journey

1. Business: add public business information, logo and support details now or later.
2. Location: create the place where the first router and customers belong.
3. Package: define what customers buy—price, speed, data, duration and devices.
4. Payments: optionally configure manual bank payment, Paystack, Flutterwave, Kora or a supported combination.
5. Platform access: review the current 0% early-access platform fee; no wallet top-up is required while the waiver is active.
6. Router: generate the private command, run it in RouterOS and wait for independent verification.
7. Go Live: review the essential location, package and router checks before opening the service.

You can open any step, skip it for later and return without losing saved work. Exentra will give advance notice before any future platform fee begins.

Signing in

Your dashboard lives at your own address, for example yourbusiness.exentra.app/admin. Sign in at exentra.app/operator/login or at yourbusiness.exentra.app/login.

1. The first time, choose Email code, enter your email and type the six-digit code we send you.
2. Open Settings → Sign-in password and set a password of at least 10 characters.
3. From then on, choose Password on the sign-in page. Live businesses open straight on the Overview.

Forgot your password? Choose Forgot password? Sign in with an email code, then set a new one in Settings. Changes to payment keys, your team or router security always ask for a fresh email code, even after a password sign-in.

Cabling your router

Every cable matters. During router setup you choose one internet port and the customer ports. Customers only get your login page when their device is connected through a customer port.

Where each cable goes

• Internet port (usually port 1): the cable from your internet source—ISP modem, fibre box or Starlink.
• Customer ports (for example ports 3–8): your Wi-Fi access points, switches or a test computer.
• Any other port (for example port 2 kept for managing the router): devices plugged in here get no internet and no login page.

Not sure? Open Routers → Manage. Cables and ports shows which ports have a cable and tells you exactly what to move.

Using a Wi-Fi access point

1. Connect a customer port on the MikroTik to the access point’s LAN port, not its WAN or Internet port.
2. Turn off DHCP on the access point, or switch it to access-point/bridge mode, so the MikroTik gives devices their addresses.
3. Most hotspots use an open Wi-Fi network; the access code protects the internet.

Receiving customer payments

Bring Your Own Key

The operator connects a supported business payment account. Exentra encrypts the secret, initializes payment on the server and verifies successful transactions before creating access. Customer proceeds go to the operator’s provider account.

Manual bank transfer

The customer sees the bank instructions entered by the operator. An authorised person checks the bank transaction and confirms or rejects the request. Access is not created merely because a customer uploaded an image.

Exentra platform wallet

Exentra platform fees are currently waived, so customer sales create no fee deduction and require no wallet funding. The wallet remains separate from operator customer revenue and preserves service-credit history for future use.

Adding your payment keys

Open Settings → How customers pay you in your dashboard. Tick the providers you use, paste the keys from your own provider account and save. Exentra shows a webhook address under each provider—copy it into that provider’s dashboard so payments confirm even if a customer closes the page. Menu names in provider dashboards may differ slightly.

Paystack

1. In Paystack, open Settings → API Keys & Webhooks.
2. Copy the Public key and Secret key into Exentra.
3. Paste Exentra’s Paystack webhook address into Live Webhook URL.

Flutterwave

1. In Flutterwave, open Settings → API Keys and copy the Public key and Secret key.
2. Open Settings → Webhooks, paste Exentra’s Flutterwave webhook address and create a secret hash.
3. Enter the same secret hash in Exentra.

Kora

1. In Kora, open your API settings and copy the Public key and Secret key.
2. Paste Exentra’s Kora webhook address into Kora’s webhook setting.

Manual bank transfer

Enter the bank name, account number and account name customers should pay. When a customer says they have paid, check your bank app first, then confirm the transfer in Payments. Unconfirmed transfers are cancelled automatically after the window set in Settings.

Creating and managing vouchers

Select a package, choose the quantity, code format and length, and add an optional batch note. Numeric-only, uppercase and lowercase formats are generated according to the selected format.

• Use longer codes when vouchers will be exposed publicly.
• Record who received a batch when agents sell on your behalf.
• Revoke a compromised voucher instead of deleting its history.
• Use the refund workflow when reversing a paid sale so the commission record remains correct.

Operating the hotspot

Use Overview for today’s revenue, customers online, this month’s sales and router status. Use Customers for live and historical access, Packages for what you sell, Vouchers for code inventory, Routers for router health and cabling, and Payments for transactions. Exentra emails you when a router stops responding and again when it is back.

When a customer cannot browse

1. Confirm the device received an IP address from the intended customer network.
2. Check whether the Hotspot server and customer interface are healthy.
3. Confirm the voucher is active, within its time/data limits and below its device limit.
4. Check WAN availability and the router’s Exentra health assessment.

Troubleshooting

A phone connects but gets no internet or no address

• Open Routers → Manage → Cables and ports and follow the message shown.
• Make sure the access point or cable is in a customer port, not the internet port or a management port.
• On an access point, use its LAN port and turn its DHCP off.

The login page does not appear

• On Wi-Fi, wait a few seconds, or open any website that starts with http://.
• On a cable, go to your router’s login address, for example http://10.5.50.1.

A customer paid but did not see a code

• The code appears on the payment return page and in the receipt email.
• The customer can use Find my purchase on your customer page with the payment reference.
• You can see every recent sale and its code on Overview and in Payments.

A code does not work

• Check the code in Vouchers: it may be expired, revoked, out of data or already used on the maximum number of devices.

You received a “Router offline” email

1. Check the router has power.
2. Check the internet cable in the internet port and that your internet provider is working.
3. If both look fine, restart the router. Exentra emails you again when it is back online.

Supported routers

Exentra works with MikroTik routers running RouterOS 7 with WireGuard and API support. The router needs a working internet connection and Hotspot allowed in its device mode.

• MikroTik RB5009UG+S+: fully tested on RouterOS 7.24, including customer login, payments and automatic expiry.
• MikroTik RB951Ui-2HnD: secure connection tested on RouterOS 7.24; full hotspot testing is in progress.

Planning to buy a router for Exentra? Tell us the model first through the contact page and we will confirm it.

Router and access recovery

Exentra records the router identity, management address and owned configuration. Supported workflows rotate API and WireGuard credentials, move a router between locations and revoke a lost router before onboarding its replacement.

Backups should be treated as sensitive operational records. A restore must match the expected recovery set and RouterBOARD identity before it is loaded.