Hotel Internet Access

[Guest]

I recently bought a laptop with Vista Home Premium. Since then, I cannot
access the internet while traveling. At any hotel that uses a redirect
access setup, Vista will not recognize a valid network connection, and I can
never get online. The redirect setup I am talking about is the kind where
when you first open your browser after connecting to the network (wired LAN
or WiFi), you are redirected to a page where you must accept user terms, or
enter an access code. After doing this, you are then given open access to
the internet at large. At one hotel (using Superclick's wired LAN service),
the only way I could get online was for the Superclick technician to log me
into the system from his side of the access interface. After he did, I then
had to reboot my machine, and Vista would finally recognize the internet, and
allow me access. I am now at a hotel that does not have a room-specific
network, just an access code to enter when first logging on. Again, Vista
doesn't see the internet because of the access redirect, so I can never get
online.

If anyone has any idea as to what is going on, or how I can change settings
so that I can gain access to the redirect page when I first start my browser,
I would very much appreciate it. I am frustrated to the point of wanting to
wipe out Vista and install XP, or even toss the PC and get a Mac. None of
the technical support people for the internet services have any clues because
they aren't familiar with Vista yet. Also, I never had this problem with my
old XP machine at these hotels.

Thanks for any help y'all can provide,

 

[Don]

I recently bought a laptop with Vista Home Premium. Since then, I cannot
access the internet while traveling. At any hotel that uses a redirect
access setup, Vista will not recognize a valid network connection, and I can
never get online...

Heh. I'm too cheap to stay at hotels that provide internet service ;o)

However, I'd expect Vista to display some sort of error message when
this happens to you. What, exactly, do you see when you try to connect
and fail?

 

[Dale M. White]

I didn't have this problem at a courtyard that uses STSN's re-direct.

I'd suggest try turning off stuff like Phishing and maybe turn off protected
mode. At least until you get your conection then you should be good to turn
them back on for the next 24 hours.

 

[Dale M. White]

Heh. I'm too cheap to stay at hotels that provide internet service ;o)

However, I'd expect Vista to display some sort of error message when
this happens to you. What, exactly, do you see when you try to connect
and fail?

About 80% of most hotels offer high-speed for free. And that's even at
places like Best Western, Courtyard, Fairfield Inn, Hampton Inn.

So what kind of hotels are you staying out ? The kind you always see in the
horror flicks ?

 

[Guest]

Guys, thanks for the replies. First, the error message I get is "Cannot
Display Webpage." When I open Network and Sharing Center, there is a green
line connecting my computer's icon to the network icon, but a red X on the
connection to the internet from the network. I did not have the Phising
Filter turned off, but do now. I have tried Protected Mode on and off, with
no difference.

I did finally get online at this hotel. Again, what worked is that I called
the hotel's internet provider's technical support line, and their technician
authenticated me from THEIR side of the redirect authorization page. I then
had to reboot my machine, and when it started back up, it recognized the
internet, and I could get online. In looking at the problem, we were able to
see that when I initially connected to the network, I get a valid IP Address,
and after authenticating me in their system, they could see my computer on
the network. I still couldn't get online though.

Having looked at most everything I can control in IE and Windows, is there
anything as far as the installed Network card in my Toshiba that could be
causing this problem?

Thanks for your help,
Flyer

 

[Guest]

I had the same issue at a public WiFi access point (Panera Breads) and am
finding it hard to believe that someone has not solved this yet. If I find
out anything from my posting, I will let you know (see my post "Connection
issue - Public WiFi).

Best,

ER

 

[cnic]

I couldn't access our office wireless either. Same scenario. Everyone else
on XP was plugging along, but not the kid with the newest, most updated
technology. No, she was sitting alone in the corner fuming.

 

[Guest]

I couldn't access our office wireless either. Same scenario. Everyone else
on XP was plugging along, but not the kid with the newest, most updated
technology. No, she was sitting alone in the corner fuming.




I also would like an answer to this. Brand new computer, can't access internet thru wif-fi network, not even at home...Frustrating!! Anyone from Microsoft has an answer to this????????

 

[Kevin]

I have a new HP with Vista and discovered that some Lame HP Wireless
Software they preinstalled on my machine was creating a conflict with my
ability to connect to a Wireless Network.

I uninstalled that program and let Windows control the Wireless card and now
everything works perfectly. Make sure you don't have any other software on
your new machine that could interfere with the Windows Wireless connection
manager.

 

[jonathanlee00]

I had the same issue at a public WiFi access point (Panera Breads) and am
finding it hard to believe that someone has not solved this yet. If I find
out anything from my posting, I will let you know (see my post "Connection
issue - Public WiFi).

Best,

ER







- Show quoted text -

Any solutions to this problem? I couldn't log on at the library,
hotel, or at a cafe. I can log in from home fine.

 

[Guest]

Any solutions to this problem? I couldn't log on at the library,

hotel, or at a cafe. I can log in from home fine.

I don't know if it is a solution or not, but I did find that there is
something under Control Panel, Administrative Tools called Windows Firewall
w/ Advanced Settings. Once I clicked on it I found that there are two
additional Firewall Modes that I could turn off. By doing that, my Internet
connection issues have gotten midly better. I still have to reboot my
machine more often than not when I connect to a new network to get it to work
smoothly, but I seem to be able to get connected eventually now.

My problem has never been with connecting to the wifi (or LAN) network. The
machine does that just fine. My problem has been when I then open Internet
Explorer. If the location I am at (hotels usually) utilizes a ReDirect that
sends you to their Terms of Use page, where you enter an access code or
simply accept their terms before being given access to the web at large, my
computer will never see the internet, and will never accept the redirect. I
keep getting IE Cannot Display the Page errors. After turning off all the
modes of the Windows Firewall, as well as McAfee, I can usually now get to
the Redirect pages, though some of them take 5-10 minutes to load. After I
accept the terms, I still sometimes have to reboot my machine to get seemless
access to the web. It has been VERY frustrating.

Now, I seem to have picked up a virus, what with having all my security
turned off. Any time I try to open a photo from My Pictures folders, Windows
Explorer stops working. When I go into the control panel to access any of
the various Windows Maintence or Performance controls, Windows Explorer stops
working. Any recommendations, other than wiping out the hard drive and
reloading everything?

Thanks