Why can't I log onto the internet at the airport or hotel?
June 5, 2012 6:31 AM   Subscribe

I have a Nook Tablet from Barnes and noble. Works perfectly at home on our wifi network. I have been on the road for the las few days and can't connect to any of my hotel or airport networks

At both the hotel and airports, the nook locates the wifi signal and connects with a strong signal. Free features from the airport and hotel. However when I attempt to lOg onto the Internet via the browser, Facebook, or my email, nothing will happen. Just loads and loads and loads. After a few minutes, the nook stops trying and says an Internet connection can not be established.

People around me are on their laptops and tablets. What am I missing?

Thx
posted by TwilightKid to Computers & Internet (10 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Do you get through to the captive dns-redirected portal that such hotspots usually employ?

I don't know anything about the Nook, but is it possible the device is configured by default to route all traffic over a VPN?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 6:52 AM on June 5, 2012


When you connect to the free wifi, does it take you to a page where you have to agree to some terms OR pay OR enter your room number? Try on your smartphone, or open the browser on the Kindle and try to visit Wikipedia (enable the browser under settings> experimental first)
posted by devnull at 6:53 AM on June 5, 2012


Response by poster: Honestly I do not know. The nook support sites make it sound as easy as pie with nothing more than simply choosing the wifi network you wish to connect to and it doIng the rest. At Barnes and noble, it connected fine.
posted by TwilightKid at 6:55 AM on June 5, 2012


Oops. Nook. Connect to the wifi network, then use the Nook's browser to go to wikipedia. Tell us what happens.
posted by devnull at 6:59 AM on June 5, 2012


Response by poster: No landing page or pay page. Can't get anything. My iPhone is not connecting to the airpor wifi either right now. Yet people around me are browsing away on their devices
posted by TwilightKid at 7:00 AM on June 5, 2012


Response by poster: Nothing happens when trying to get to Wikipedia. :/. Just spins and spins.
posted by TwilightKid at 7:01 AM on June 5, 2012


Might be cached DNS, i.e., the Nook thinks it knows where to go for wikipedia, despite the captive portal's DNS telling it that all traffic should go to the login/terms-and-conditions page.

Can you try going to some website you've never been to before (and will therefore not be cached)? Something like aol.com or jkvjaskldjfls.com.
posted by chengjih at 7:08 AM on June 5, 2012


The people around you might be updating word docs on their laptops or playing angry birds without an internet connection on their phones, too. Maybe nobody's wifi is working.

That said, I would only ask a stranger "hey, were you able to connect to the airport wifi" after I had tried all the other things being suggested in this thread.
posted by vytae at 8:25 AM on June 5, 2012


I always get my Nook to connect by trying to navigate to Google.com. And clear your browser history and, if you can get to the page where your history of wifi connections comes up, I think there is an option to "forget this connection." Do that with all past connections if you can. Then reboot. (Not a hard reboot, just power off and back up again.)

Also, if your software version is not at 1.4.2 (you can check under setting-- device info-- about your Nook tablet), then update it or go into a store and let them do so. Wifi is tricky but you should not be having problems with every single place you try.
posted by BibiRose at 8:51 AM on June 5, 2012


Do the hotels give you a username and password, but then when you pull up a list of available wifi networks the hotels network has no security requirements (no padlock symbol next to the signal strength symbol)? If so, tap on that network to connect to it, wait til you have the wifi symbol in the corner, then launch the browser (press the n button, then tap on web). The browser is where you will enter the username and password. You will need each time you turn on the nook, or come out of sleep.

I do tech support for another device, and this has been the successful solution every time someone has had difficulties connecting to a hotel network. This is also what I've needed to do with my own nook at hotels. If this isn't the solution for the hotels, you need to call nook's tech support.

I can't help a lot as far as the airport wifi, I have no experience there.

Don't update to 1.4.2 if you haven't already. That update only adds restrictions to your nook.
posted by BurnChao at 10:39 AM on June 5, 2012


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