BoingoMobile connection
 

Hi Gang,

I installed BoingoMobile and installed the software on my N800 with OS2008. I have been to two locations listed under the BoingoMobile hotspot locations so far. The BoingoMobile failed to automatically connect me at either location. I selected the SSID but then nothing. Part of the problem is that I have no idea what *should* happen. The Boingo website and help files say little more than "you will be automatically connected".

So, anyone have experience with BoingoMobile? How do you connect? Choose the SSID and then what? Does a Boingo logo popup in the status bar? What am I missing? Emails to Boingo have not been answered.

Thanks.

Re: BoingoMobile connection
 

i installed boingo on my n800 and traveled in ireland, spain, the canary islands, islands in the caribbean etc., etc., and never found one boingo spot to connect to.

john

Re: BoingoMobile connection
 

Not exactly a ringing endorsement of Boingo. Where there no Boingo hotspots available or did you just have trouble connecting?

K

Re: BoingoMobile connection
 

http://www.jiwire.com shows plenty of hotspots in Ireland. Strange.

Re: BoingoMobile connection
 

I'm currently on the 'first month free' and I don't have any issues with Boingo. So long as you do your homework beforehand, and find out where the hotspots are located (don't just turn up in the middle of a field in Ireland) it works well. I've tested it in most of the railway stations in London, as well as my home locality.

Re: BoingoMobile connection
 

GREAT

I now use Boingo some time and it's great. It even hops from Hotspot to Hotspot, walking through my City. Who needs WIMAX :D

Abel

Re: BoingoMobile connection
 

Well that's what happens: "automatically connected". You must of course have entered your account and password in Boingo's program once. An icons appears in your status bar.

Hope it Helps, Abel.

Re: BoingoMobile connection
 

i was looking for fellow boingo mobile users, to find how they are dealing with a specific problem, but first...
Your nokia has to be connected to the hotspot for boingo to do anything, my town (Nottingham) is well populated with BT OpenZone, so my N800 auto-connects to those. Boingo has a daemon running called "/usr/bin/goboingo" which is precompiled, and multipurpose running the background auto-signin and GUI for settings. It is started from /etc/rcN.d/K99boingomobile, dbus and the desktop menu (for settings).

When it realises it is connected to a parter hotspot, it performs the sign-in which allows connection to the wider Internet, and provides an icon in the system-tray area which appears when first identifies the partner connection, then changes colour from red to orange to indicate signing on, changing to green when signed on. It also signs on on my home network, i don't know why. The home network doesn't appear in my network usage, so I am ignoring this annoyance.

My problem is, it does not always realise it's connected to a parter hotspot and there is no "sign-in now" option. It *seems* to be fixed by loading the GUI and confirming the already set option to auto-connect (ie click Settings, then OK). In boingo-speak, the phrase "Auto-connect" should say auto-sign-in, as the n800 does the connecting and when connected, the goboingo client passes credentials to something. Most partner sites have a boingo log-in on their web portal, but your boingo mobile credentials won't work at that screen, only the binary client can authenticate.

To summarise, the normal process is for the n800 to connect to a recognised access point, and the boingo mobile client to activate, display a system-tray status icon and sign-in to the service. On my device, sometimes the boingo client fails to activate and there is no manual over-ride.

Anyone else got feedback?

Re: BoingoMobile connection
 

I also have that problem with Boingo Mobile and have discussed it with Boingo tech help. In the end no clear answer was found. I have found that rebooting (cold boot) my N800 will most of the time allow me to log on.

Re: BoingoMobile connection
 

I've been having a heck of a time since I think last April with this whole Boingo thing.

When it works, it works completely automatically. You just have to be in range and *poof* you're connected. I've even had it work with some partner sites like that.

Sadly, most of the time my tablet won't work in even regular, US Boingo hotspots. Typically what happens is it finds the signal, recognizes "Boingo Hotspot" as a favourited connection and does connect. But, that's just the wifi logging into a trusted network, not the Boingo app doing anything.

And yes, because a mobile account doesn't have any way of actually logging in via the browser, you're S.O.L. if the app doesn't kick in.

I was this close to canceling my account after several phone calls to tech support, then last month I was in Charles De Gaulle airport and, for the first time in months, *poof* I was connected!

Then, I reach the next airport (MSP, the one I'm usually at for connections) and NOTHING. Earlier this month, it works in MIA, but again, not in MSP.

I understand the reason for a lack of a manual sign-in (to stop people from paying for cheaper mobile accounts then signing in on a laptop), but it really does leave us with no back up when, as it often does, the app doesn't work. I'm still trying to figure out what my long-term Boingo solution will be.