What is Captive Portal?
A captive portal is the branded web page that appears automatically when you join a public Wi-Fi network — the screen at an airport or hotel asking you to log in, enter a mobile number for OTP, or accept terms before browsing. The network "captures" all web traffic from new devices and redirects it to this page until the user completes the required step.
Beyond access control, captive portals are a marketing surface: an Indian cafe's portal can show today's offer and collect the customer's mobile number, building a WhatsApp marketing list from footfall. Portals also serve compliance — DoT guidelines expect public Wi-Fi providers to identify users, which OTP-based portal login satisfies. The page itself is fully customisable: logo, colours, plan purchase buttons and payment integration.