Install and onboard your MikroTik router

What you need

Gather everything before you climb a ladder. An install that stops for want of a cable is an install you start again the next day.

• The MikroTik router and its original power supply, or its PoE injector if the model is powered over the network cable.
• Two network cables at least: one to link the Internet source to the router, one for your computer if you prefer to work over a wire.
• The Internet source: the provider's box, the fibre modem or the 4G router that already carries the connection.
• A phone or a computer to open the WiNet app while you work.
• Mounting and protection: ties, conduit, an enclosure if the access point is exposed to rain or dust.

If you are unsure which model suits your expected traffic, describe the zone to us (area, number of simultaneous customers, indoor or outdoor) and we will point you to the right one — see also the Routers & setup page.

Prepare the router

Place the router somewhere ventilated, away from water and out of public reach. Plug in the power supply on its own first and let it boot: the LEDs should settle after a few tens of seconds.

Then find the port that will carry the Internet in — the WAN port, usually port 1 or the one marked Internet depending on the model. That is where the cable from your box or your modem goes. The other ports stay free, or serve an extra access point.

One last point, often overlooked: power. A zone that reboots five times an evening loses sales and wears out the hardware.

Reset, or start from a clean configuration

WiNet writes its own configuration onto the router during onboarding. To avoid any conflict, the device must start from a clean base: a brand-new router is fine as it is, a router already used elsewhere must be reset.

On most models, the reset is done by holding the Reset button during boot, or from the usual MikroTik tool if you have one. Once it is done, the router comes back with its factory configuration and is reachable normally again.

Connect the router to the Internet

Link the Internet source to the WAN port of the MikroTik with a network cable. In the vast majority of cases the router gets an address on its own: there is nothing to type in.

To check, connect a phone or a computer to the router and try to open any web page. If it loads, your router can see the Internet and onboarding can go ahead. If it does not load, do not carry on: go back over the cabling, test the same cable straight on the box, and make sure your subscription is active.

Watch out for cascaded setups: if the provider's box already does filtering or sharing, the MikroTik must still be able to reach the Internet freely.

Start the onboarding from the WiNet app

Open the Manager app, select the WiFi zone (or create it), then start adding a router. The app searches the local network for the device by itself and offers it to you, model included; you confirm, and it takes care of the rest. This is also when it captures the zone's location — from the router's GPS if it has one, from your phone otherwise — for the public map.

Stay near the hardware while it runs and unplug nothing: the router may reboot once or several times. Depending on the quality of the link, onboarding takes anywhere from a few tens of seconds to a few minutes. If the app reports a failure, the router is not broken: go back one step, check Internet access, then start again.

Until onboarding finishes, the zone stays marked as not connected in your list.

Special case: a router already in service

Everything above describes a zone built from scratch. But if your WiFi already works — router mounted, network broadcast, customers connected — there is nothing to dismantle. WiNet can attach a MikroTik that is already in production, and that is in fact the most common path for managers who ran a network before they heard of us.

If you already run a hotspot and already sell access, a whole page is devoted to you : Take over an existing MikroTik hotspot. It covers both ways of attaching a router, what WiNet does with your codes once the zone is live, and what it does not do.

What you keep

• The hardware. Your router stays yours, where it is, with its power supply and its cabling. Nothing to buy again as long as it handles the load.
• The network name. The SSID your customers know does not have to change: nobody has to hunt for a new network in their list.
• Your connected customers. On the "connection only" path, only the management side is installed on the router: your Wi-Fi configuration and your hotspot are untouched, so nothing changes for devices already connected until you decide to go further.
• Your physical install. Antenna position, extra access points, conduit and mounts: that work is already done, and it stays done.

What WiNet adds on top

• The captive portal in your name and your colours, which opens by itself on the customer's phone.
• Your bundles, worded the way you think of them: "2 GB · 3 days · 5 Mbit/s".
• Collection through the mobile money of the zone's country or by bank card, which feeds the zone balance — then the payout to your own number.
• Remote monitoring over a secure tunnel: online or offline status, an alert when the zone goes down, bundle changes without travelling to the site.
• Your numbers, carried over: the bundles already on the router are read back and adopted by the app, and past Mikhmon sales enter your history, labelled as earlier sales.

The two ways of attaching a router

You declare the router. You enter its details in the app; the device opens the tunnel to WiNet itself, and WiNet checks through that tunnel that the hotspot answers — never by calling in directly from the Internet, and with no port opened on your box. If the check passes, the zone switches to "Online". A router without WireGuard — a RouterOS 6, say — is not an obstacle: the tunnel is then established over TCP on port 443, including behind a carrier-shared connection (CGNAT).

You declare nothing at all. A universal connection script is run on the router; it reads its own serial number and installs only what is needed for remote management. You then choose, from the router's page in the app, what WiNet should do: only monitor, or configure the whole zone (Wi-Fi, hotspot, captive portal) as it would for a brand-new router.

Check before you attach

• It really is a MikroTik running RouterOS. That is the only family supported; a router from another brand cannot be attached.
• You control it. Administrator access to the router is required: if the original installer left with the password, sort that out first.
• The site's Internet connection is up at the moment you attach — that is how the router reaches WiNet.
• You have to hand the device serial number, the network name (SSID) and the WiFi key.
• Pick a quiet hour. The router may reboot during the operation: avoid the busy period, as with any work on a zone that is selling.

Once attached, the router is managed exactly like the others: see Routers & setup, or the dedicated page Take over an existing hotspot. And if you would rather have someone do it on site, open a field visit.

What WiNet configures automatically

This is the whole point of onboarding: you touch no network setting. Once the device is adopted, WiNet sets up, remotely and over a secure tunnel :

• The zone's WiFi network and its broadcast name (SSID), the one your customers will see in their list of networks.
• The hotspot, that is, the mechanism that stops a device from reaching the Internet without paying.
• The captive portal, the purchase page that opens automatically on connection, with your bundles, your name and your colours.
• The queues that share bandwidth between customers so that one download does not block the whole zone.
• The monitoring tunnel, which lets WiNet know whether the zone is online and apply your bundle changes without a site visit.

These settings are managed by the platform. If you change them by hand on the router, you risk cutting off your sales: if you have a specific need, write to us instead.

Check that the zone is "online"

Go back to the zone's page in the app. The indicator must read "Online". That is the only state that guarantees the router, the portal and the payment work together.

Then run a real test, as described in the getting started guide: connect your phone to the zone's WiFi, let the portal open, buy the smallest bundle and check that access opens and that the balance moves. Turn off your mobile data during the test, otherwise the portal may never appear.

Place the antenna or the access point

Coverage is decided by placement, not by settings. A few simple rules beat any calculation :

• High up and in the clear. Two to three metres above people's heads, with no load-bearing wall or sheet metal right in front.
• In the middle of your customers, not at the back of a shop nor behind a fridge or a concrete wall.
• Away from interference: motors, large transformers, other antennas pressed against yours.
• Sheltered. Outdoors, fit a waterproof enclosure and a drip loop on the cable so rain does not run down to the connector.

Test the connection at the four corners of the area you want to cover, at a busy time of day. A small zone that works well beats a large zone where everyone complains.

Troubleshooting the common cases

Before you call, run through this table: almost every install problem comes from one of these situations.

When to call a technician

Some situations cannot be fixed remotely, and that is fine: you open a field visit on the zone, a technician vetted by WiNet takes it on, travels to the site, and closes it with a written report you find in the app. No payment is ever made inside the app.

Call on them in particular if :

• an antenna has to be mounted high up, or a cable pulled over several tens of metres;
• the zone has to cover several buildings, floors or yards;
• the router will not onboard even though the Internet connection has been checked;
• you would simply rather someone did it right the first time.

To go further: the getting started guide, the questions about hardware, the Routers page, or becoming a WiNet technician if you are the one who knows how.