wifi abroad

[nieltab]

Hi,

When I was in Spain I couldnt use wifi. I did enter the correct password and even free hotspots didnt work. Sometime it said it was connected, but there still was no internet and sometimes it wouldnt even connect.

Now im back, but someone I know is now having the same problem in Italy. How could he solve this problem?

I have a galaxy s advance and he has a galaxy s plus.


Thnx

 

[breadnatty08]

I had a lot of problems with both my Droid and Nook Color in France and Spain. Would sometimes connect, other times not. I'm guessing it had something to do with what bands their WiFi routers use, but not entirely sure.

 

[TheCellPhonGuy]

I never had a problem when using Wi-Fi abroad. I'm actually in Spain at the moment and can assure you that the frequency bands are identical worldwide, though some countries put different limits on channels. You can't use channel 12 in the United States, but you can use it in Europe. The only instance would be if the Wi-Fi network operated on the 5GHz band, but these are rarely used.

Sometimes what happens is that the Wi-Fi network is open, but there is a login required. In that case open up the Web browser and type in a random website. If a login page pops up, then you need to buy a membership or have a password. I was in Italy a couple of years ago and saw an open Wi-Fi network at a public park. I went to Google.com and a Web Page popped up telling me to provide my date of birth, name and passport number. I didn't want to give such information, so I couldn't use the Web.

This time in Spain, I bought a cheap local SIM card for 15 Euros and enjoy unlimited data and calling via Skype everywhere I go, no need to hunt for Wi-Fi hotspots.

 

[nieltab]

The browser showed a 'this page cant load' screen. So it was not with a log in.

 

[mikedt]

You weren't connecting to APs called "Free Public WiFi" were you? They'll certainly give a page cannot be displayed message in your browser. http://www.npr.org/2010/10/09/130451369/the-zombie-network-beware-free-public-wifi

If you were connecting to real hotel, airport, mall, restaurant, APs you should have no problems at all. Normally they either work straight away or give you some sort of landing page. I've never had any problems connecting to open public APs with a PC laptop or using phones, that's in North America, Europe and China.

 

[mikedt]

Sometimes what happens is that the Wi-Fi network is open, but there is a login required. In that case open up the Web browser and type in a random website. If a login page pops up, then you need to buy a membership or have a password. I was in Italy a couple of years ago and saw an open Wi-Fi network at a public park. I went to Google.com and a Web Page popped up telling me to provide my date of birth, name and passport number. I didn't want to give such information, so I couldn't use the Web.

You often find that with municipal wifi, even though it's free. There's a landing page, where you have to enter your details, like DOB, name, ID-card or passport number, cellphone number, etc.

Here in China it's required by law that all open public wifi APs, whether they're municipal or private, do this. Usually it's just your ID-card or passport number and Chinese cellphone number. These landing pages are in Chinese of course, so if you can't read Chinese and don't have a Chinese cellphone number it might be a problem, usually for tourists. Although at the local Dicos fried chicken restaurant, around the corner from where I live, their wifi is completely open, no landing page at all, which is very unusual for China and illegal.

Getting on the internet via wifi at Beijing Airport is very easy though and free. There's kiosks that scan your ID-card or passport and prints a ticket with a number you have to enter when you connect.

 

[nieltab]

Yea indeed at the airport it worked and there was also 1 at the hotel. But when going into asmall town none of them worked.