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Coworking Space WiFi Solutions

Overview​

Coworking spaces require WiFi infrastructure that balances flexibility, security, and seamless member experience. Unlike traditional office networks, coworking environments serve diverse users with varying access levels, integrate with workspace management platforms, and must support everything from casual drop-in users to enterprise teams with dedicated areas.

IronWiFi provides WiFi solutions designed for coworking spaces, with captive portal authentication that validates member credentials directly against your coworking platform's REST API at each login.

Coworking Platform Integrations​

IronWiFi's captive portal REST API authentication provider lets members log in to WiFi with their existing coworking platform credentials. The captive portal calls the platform at each login attempt and the platform decides whether the member's account is currently active.

PlatformIntegration Guide
NexudusNexudus Captive Portal Integration
SpacebringSpacebring Captive Portal Integration
OfficeRnDOfficeRnD Captive Portal Integration
OptixOptix Captive Portal Integration
CobotCobot Captive Portal Integration
CoworksCoworks Captive Portal Integration
ArchieArchie Captive Portal Integration

How Integration Works​

There is no member sync, webhooks, or pre-provisioning. Instead, at each login attempt:

  1. The member connects to the SSID and is redirected to the IronWiFi captive portal.
  2. The member enters their coworking platform email and password.
  3. IronWiFi POSTs the credentials to the platform's REST API using a bearer token you configured.
  4. The platform returns 
    2xx
    if the member and their membership are active, or 
    4xx
    to deny.
  5. IronWiFi grants or denies the WiFi session based on the response.

The coworking platform remains the source of truth — cancellations, plan changes, and new signups take effect at the next login with no sync required. See External Authentication via REST API for the request/response contract.

SSID Design​

SSIDAuthenticationPurpose
[Space Name] WiFiCaptive portal with coworking platform REST API authAll members
[Space Name] GuestCaptive portal (email, SMS, or vouchers)Visitors and day passes
[Team Name] (optional)WPA2/WPA3-Enterprise (802.1X)Dedicated enterprise team SSID with its own IdP

VLAN Segmentation​

Isolate traffic between user types for security:

  • Management VLAN -- Network equipment, APs, switches
  • Staff VLAN -- Space managers and operations
  • Members VLAN -- All coworking members (with client isolation)
  • Guest VLAN -- Day pass users, visitors, event attendees
  • Enterprise Team VLANs -- One per team requiring isolation

Client isolation should be enabled on member and guest networks to prevent peer-to-peer communication. Enterprise teams can optionally allow intra-team communication for shared resources.

Bandwidth Management by Plan​

PlanDownloadUploadDevicesSession
Day Pass25 Mbps10 Mbps28 hours
Part-Time50 Mbps25 Mbps312 hours
Full-Time100 Mbps50 Mbps424/7
Premium Add-On250 Mbps100 Mbps524/7
Enterprise Team500 Mbps pool250 Mbps pool50+24/7

Configure QoS to prioritize video conferencing (Zoom, Teams, Meet) and business-critical SaaS applications over bulk downloads and streaming.

Authentication Methods​

Members authenticate through the IronWiFi captive portal using their existing coworking platform credentials. IronWiFi calls the platform's REST API at each login to confirm the account and membership are active.

Advantages:

  • Coworking platform stays the source of truth — no member sync to maintain
  • Cancellations take effect on the next login attempt
  • Members use the same credentials they already have
  • Works across multiple locations with one captive portal configuration

See the platform-specific integration guides in the Coworking Platform Integrations table above.

Captive Portal (For Guests)​

Visitors authenticate via the guest captive portal using email verification, SMS verification, voucher codes, or sponsored access (member sends an invite link).

See Captive Portal Setup for configuration details.

Member Lifecycle​

Because the captive portal validates against the coworking platform on every login, the member lifecycle happens entirely in the platform itself:

  • Onboarding — a newly signed up member can log in to WiFi as soon as their plan is active in the coworking platform.
  • Plan changes — upgrades and downgrades are reflected immediately on the next login, based on what the coworking platform returns.
  • Offboarding — cancelling a member's plan in the coworking platform causes the next login attempt to fail. No deprovisioning step in IronWiFi is required.

Meeting Room & Event WiFi​

  • Meeting rooms can use the shared member network or a dedicated SSID with booking-based activation
  • Events can have a temporary SSID with bulk-generated voucher codes and time-limited access
  • Integrate with your platform's booking system for automatic credential generation

See Vouchers & Access Codes for event WiFi setup.

Security & Compliance​

  • Client isolation prevents members from seeing each other's devices
  • Network segmentation (VLANs) separates members, guests, staff, and enterprise teams
  • GDPR compliance -- minimal data collection, clear privacy policy, member data access and deletion rights
  • Access logging -- connection timestamps, bandwidth usage, and device information for audit trails

Best Practices​

  1. Authenticate against your coworking platform -- use the captive portal REST API provider so membership status is always current without sync
  2. Use captive portal per-user login for member networks -- members use credentials they already have and cancellations take effect immediately
  3. Enable client isolation on all shared networks
  4. Prioritize video conferencing traffic with QoS policies
  5. Point members to the coworking platform for password resets and account management -- IronWiFi does not store their credentials
  6. Plan AP density for peak usage -- 1 AP per 2,000-2,500 sq ft in open areas, dedicated APs for large meeting rooms
  7. Monitor proactively -- set alerts for RADIUS failures, high AP utilization, and integration sync issues

Getting Started​

  1. Choose your coworking platform integration from the supported platforms above
  2. Configure your network -- set up SSIDs, VLANs, and RADIUS following Configuration Guides
  3. Set up access policies -- create Groups matching your membership plans
  4. Customize the guest portal -- brand your Captive Portal
  5. Test thoroughly -- log in with active, cancelled, and expired test members and confirm the coworking platform response is honored
  6. Roll out in phases -- start with staff, then early adopters, then all members

Support​

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