Connect android to free wifi?
MONEYTREE_2
Forumite 147 Posts
in Techie Stuff
I have this problem every time I go anywhere and so would be really grateful for some help :-)
I travel with an android tablet. I have been taught that, to connect to free wifi (cafes, hotels, trains etc) I should open "settings" and go to "Wlan", select the correct wifi from the list, then click "connect". Then open the browser and there you go... or it might open onto the hotel's page and I have to sign in.
However, although I have no problem with the first bit, and it comes up with "Connected", the second bit almost never works. When I open the browser it takes me to a google home page, with a message saying "no connection". I then spend 10 frustrating minutes going back and forth from the Wlan-connect page and clicking "connect" again and again, then back to the browser. I don't know why I bother because doing this has never got me connected. I find that, if it does not connect automatically by itself, there is nothing I can do to make it do so.
Often I end up begging the staff for help and sometimes they fiddle with it for a bit then it connects but they don't show me what they did. However, often they just shrug. So most of the time when I am in an area of free wifi, I cannot connect to it, and that is a shame!
If anyone can tell me where I am going wrong I would be so grateful.
I travel with an android tablet. I have been taught that, to connect to free wifi (cafes, hotels, trains etc) I should open "settings" and go to "Wlan", select the correct wifi from the list, then click "connect". Then open the browser and there you go... or it might open onto the hotel's page and I have to sign in.
However, although I have no problem with the first bit, and it comes up with "Connected", the second bit almost never works. When I open the browser it takes me to a google home page, with a message saying "no connection". I then spend 10 frustrating minutes going back and forth from the Wlan-connect page and clicking "connect" again and again, then back to the browser. I don't know why I bother because doing this has never got me connected. I find that, if it does not connect automatically by itself, there is nothing I can do to make it do so.
Often I end up begging the staff for help and sometimes they fiddle with it for a bit then it connects but they don't show me what they did. However, often they just shrug. So most of the time when I am in an area of free wifi, I cannot connect to it, and that is a shame!
If anyone can tell me where I am going wrong I would be so grateful.
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http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5680695&highlight=hotel
You need to protect yourself when connecting to open WiFi, you don’t know who is snooping on the connection.
Many of us use a VPN to give a secure connection, especially the free WiFi often found in pubs and bars. The paranoid will ask how do we know the VPN provider isn’t spying, I guess I trust a paid for VPN over the local pub...
I shall definitely try that next time!
My machine is a Lenovo Yoga 2. OS is Android, I don't know what version probably whatever the latest is.
Yes. I recently went abroad and every train, every station and airport had free wifi that did not need a password. I'm not worried about security because I only use it to watch iplayer, youtube, for email and Facebook. Never anything secret or private and never for online shopping or banking.
You probably would not wish to have your identity stolen. That is one reason people use vpns in an attempt to be a bit more secure.
What's a vpn?
If all this is so dangerous why is every airport and station offering it?
I don't want to be told not to use free wifi.
Please.