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Wireless problem

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by engsoft 1 view

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My users can connect with their laptops on our wired connection. When they go on the road and try to connect via wireless in hotels/airports etc the wireless connection connects, gives them a local IP address etc. yet they are unable to get any webpages to load. I've even had them try to use the IP addresses of websites (in case it was a DNS issue) with no luck.

Any ideas on this one would be appreciated.

16 replies

by slayer_

Are you sure they are connecting to places with internet access, they could just be connecting to open wireless, or even other peoples laptops, or even hackers.

by engsoft

One user this morning was connected to the Wireless in the Airport Lounge before catching their flight.

by robo_dev

What personal firewall software are they using?

Have you tested a WLAN connection locally? (e.g. plugging an Access Point into your wired network)

by engsoft

No proxy in the office. Have not added a wireless access point however I setup a separate wireless router (on it's own static IP from my ISP) and was able to connect one of the trouble laptops to it.

by robo_dev

meaning that the PC will not work unless the web browser is redirected to a login page.

If the PC security settings do not allow this to happen, the user cannot connect.

by ansugisalas

And many login pages are surprisingly cranky.
I had one free university wifi login page mysteriously fail to do it's thing. Result - no logon.

It can be as simple as blocking pop-ups.

by engsoft

How can I check that specifically?
Is there a GPO to manage it?

by robo_dev

the good news/ bad news is that captive portals work like a browser-hijack virus, in that the server hijacks DNS and sometimes even uses an ActiveX control to do it's bidding.

The way to make it work would be to loosen up the security settings on the browser, which is obviously a bad idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captive_portal

by rjluvkc

Take one of those laptops and go try it yourself from a wifi spot, whether at home or a starbucks. See if you can troubleshoot it there.

by engsoft

That's the oddity of this problem. For the user I have traveling currently having the problem I tested the laptop on my test wireless router (on a different IP from my ISP)
and it connected just fine.
Once he got to the airport and tried it it shows that the wireless is connected but he can't load any webpages in IE or Firefox.

by ansugisalas

And related it above.
Something was keeping part of the wifi validation process from working.
Hardware shows a connection, but since there's no validation, you get no functionality out of that connection.

It's just waiting for you to tip it, so to speak. Hand held out, eyeing the horizon off to the right.

by ansugisalas

it went away the M$ way... no way to know how.
Make sure there's no pop-up blocking though. Or at least try to turn off each potential blocker in turn... not safe to do maybe, so better hope it's only a surface protection causing the problem.
And only turn off one at a time.
And the way windows works, you may have to restart between changes for them to take effect.
But you could also call the airport to ask for their wifi providers customer support, they may have a list of known issues...

by engsoft

Becoming tempted to equip them all with wireless broadband from our mobile phone provider.

by nexs

The Internet Properties, under 'connections', then 'LAN Settings', is set to Automatically detect settings.

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