Public WIFI
 

A local mall nearby has Public wifi. My n800 detects it and connects however, it does not allow me to surf the internet, or in fact do anything thats related to the Internet.

I have connected to other various public hotspots and it usually takes me to their homepage where you agree to not abuse the network etc etc.

If it helps, the place I am talking about is Partridge Creek Mall in Clinton Township, MI in case anybody has tried

Any sugesstions on how to make this work?

Customer service just said consult your handheld device manual

I am running an n800 with OS2008

Re: Public WIFI
 

I've yet to connect to a wifi other than my own.

Everyone of them to date has failed and the "error message" is totally unhelpful :-(.

Re: Public WIFI
 

maybe a reflash of the current OS2008 firmware may help.

I have connected to a lot of different hotspots...public and private (unsecured of course) Including Panera Bread

Re: Public WIFI
 

I am assuming it does not assign an IP Address?

Re: Public WIFI
 

If you can attach to another site's wireless -- like your own -- then the unit is probably working properly.

It's probably some form of security. There's lots of reasons APs don't complete a connection to a wireless computer:

1. There's an encryption system in use you can't get into.
2. The access point only communicates with a certain set of MAC addresses and your unit does not have one of them.
3. There is no DHCP in use; all units are assued to statically assign an IP address.
4. The signal is weak and cutting in and out too much to sustain a good connection.

You said you can get a good signal and that it's not encrypted. So my guess is that #2 above is in place: your unit does not have one of the approved MAC addresses. If that's true, then you are SOL.

If it's #3 above, you could try manually assigning an IP address in a standard range, say 192.168.1.x. That's a needle in the haystack proposition, however. You are probably SOL there too.

Re: Public WIFI
 

I've never had trouble connecting to public wifi. Of course, the first thing you need to do is ask the people providing the wifi if anything special like a password is needed.

Re: Public WIFI
 

Same...I always get the "ip" problem... :(

Re: Public WIFI
 

I just noticed you are from Michigan. So am I. In Michigan, geneven's permission comment is very true: a news story on a local station here pointed out prosecution in Sparta, MI, of a man who "borrowed" WiFi from a coffee shop without having coffee. The same thing happened in London, UK; a previous thread in ITT talked about it.

User beware.

Re: Public WIFI
 

I know of the story. I am not trying to steal or borrow bandwidth :) The Mall at Partridge Creek offers free wifi as long as you are on the property because you are therefor a patron. I was just saying that for some reason It wouldnt let me browse. I went to customer service and they said that when you connect to their wifi it should go directly to the malls website. They also told me to consult my user manual LOL. I wish i had another wifi device to test it. But thank you for the advice and insight

Re: Public WIFI
 

Yes, try it with another device, like a laptop and see if it works. I have a similar problem at my local Starbucks, and will be testing it later this evening with my laptop to see if I'm getting the walled garden page that I should be getting on my N800. A friend of mine is the product manager for WiFi services in the telco that I work for, and has requested for feedback so he can address the problem.

Interestingly enough, he's able to connect it via his Nokia N80. I've tried other hotspots around the same mall and have no problems connected to a few free ones as well, so this could be related to the walled garden.

Does anyone know how microB identifies itself? I know that some walled gardens have browser detection so that might be part of the problem.