Hotel Wi-Fi networks with iPad

Sounds more like the hotel needs to fix their configuration.

Paul Craton wrote:
I'm on a 64gb ipad (non 3g) and have exactly this problem. My pc laptop and iPhone can connect no trouble ... The devices are presented with a login screen and after entering the credentials are able to connect to the Internet via the wifi connection. When I connect with the ipad to the network it conneCts and is issued a valid ip address but no matter what address is entered or browser used the login panel is not presented... No connection is made to any site. You'd have thought Applewould test their devices in hotels or provide clear guidelines or solutions to working around this issue. I'm dissatisfied and very dissapointed to say the least... Looks like I have a $1000 useless machine until they fix it.... Come on Apple!!!

If the internet services have a login screen then turn off the Settings > Safari > Autofill option. This has been known to cause problems with sign-on with some of these services.

I always connect to the Internet by way of the wi-fi setting window. Or I at least check it from there. Sometimes I'll get hooked up to the wrong IP and have a lesser strength or not at all connection.

Any word on if the Princeton problem was ever resolved?


Also I'm looking to get an iPad very soon. The mobile WiFi is the primary reason I want one. It seems like a LOT of people are having these connection issues... if this is an unresolved ongoing issue with the iPad I may have to reconsider 😟 Any clue on a official fix (patch/update) for this being available soon?

Message was edited by: Corsair Noir

"Sounds more like the hotel needs to fix their configuration."

All 3 hotels? The poster indicated that all his other devices connected just fine to their routers, with only the iPad having any difficulty. Should the rest of the hotel world "fix" their routers to accommodate only one device on the planet?

Why is there such blind faith in this product on these boards? There is a problem with the iPad, not hundreds of hotels, airports and other wifi spots around the world.

I love my mac as much as the next guy but there is definitely something amiss with my iPad and i am not alone.

Apple needs to fix this. The answer is not to call technical support everytime you check in to a new hotel.

Why do people think Apple should always be the one to fix other manufacturer's devices? If the hotel offers wifi then it is their responsibility to make sure they are compatible with wifi devices.

Cluto wrote:
Why is there such blind faith in this product on these boards? There is a problem with the iPad, not hundreds of hotels, airports and other wifi spots around the world.

Because we have actually used our iPads at many places around the world and it works fine. While I can't claim to have used my iPad at "hundreds" of places, I have used it at a handful of hotels and airports and it worked fine every time. It may not work at all at the next set of hotels, no way to tell. But why do you expect me to join in a blanket condemnation of the iPad when I have never seen it fail?

The answer is not to call technical support everytime you check in to a new hotel.

Absolutely wrong! That is the only solution. How will these hotels know they need to upgrade their hardware if you don't do that?

virtualgeo wrote:
All 3 hotels?

Yes.

The poster indicated that all his other devices connected just fine to their routers, with only the iPad having any difficulty. Should the rest of the hotel world "fix" their routers to accommodate only one device on the planet?

That is typical with a new device. When I first got my iBook and Macbook I experienced similar problems. I don't any more, of course, because most places have upgraded their network hardware over the past few years. As hardware improves, that will continue, and eventually people will have forgotten all about the iPad "wifi issue".

etresoft wrote:

The answer is not to call technical support everytime you check in to a new hotel.

Absolutely wrong! That is the only solution. How will these hotels know they need to upgrade their hardware if you don't do that?

Exactly. A couple years ago, we were staying in a nicer hotel and my MB would not connect to wifi. I called the desk and tech support had the issue squared away in no time. By the other poster's rationale, I should have blamed Apple for not making sure my MB wifi would work at XYZ hotel.

Tamara wrote:
His hotel issue is completely different than Princeton's issue. His issue could have most likely been resolved with a call to the front desk.

A call to the front desk is useless. They won't be able to help. Any hotel wifi connection will have a card with a tech support number in the room. That is the number you should call. If you are lucky, you will get someone helpful who will walk you through the steps of trying to connect. Of course, it will be useless 95% of the time, but you have to go through it with them so that they will report the problem to the corporate overlords. Otherwise, they will just file it under "customer refused troubleshooting" and ignore it. Once they get enough such calls they will verify that new devices work with the iPad and, eventually, start replacing the old ones.

If your iPad won't connect to a hotel network, it is never going to connect. But you should call it in anyway. If you really want to be pro-active, call the hotel customer service number (again, not the front desk) and complain that your iPad doesn't work. Eventually they will also put pressure on the wifi provider. Yes, this is a lot of work. No, Apple isn't going to do it. Eventually, enough people will complain and the the network will be upgraded, but it will take a while. All you can to is try to speed up the process.

Chris Carlson wrote:
Princeton University is the only unbiased authority on this subject that I can find.

Please stop with the Princeton story. That is old news and was bogus to begin with. The Princeton network is unlike any other network on the planet. People are writing articles about how the internet is running out of network addresses and Princeton is sitting on a significant percentage of those network addresses and handing them out to iPhones and iPads. That is just a typical case of having more money than sense.

My my we have some biased posters around. ("The IPAD is perfect the problem is everywhere else", is ultimately a less than helpful response.)

It appears to me that everyone is ignoring the OPs stated problems. If his IPhone will work with the hotel's networks (as will his PC) and his IPAD won't than it appears that the problem is the IPAD not the hotel. I think "Elementary, My dear Watson" is in order here.

Do see a couple of similar posts in this forum. In one, the users IPAD would not connect and his wife's would. no solution yet. In another the user couldn't connect but a hard reset fixed that problem. So it seems likely that the problem is one that may exist with the iteration of Safari used in the IPAD rather than the hotel's router or the IPAD OS.

So if I find I have this problem (precisely why I bought a WiFi + 3G to give myself connectivity backup) I will look to the Safari to try and trouble shoot.

Perry

pkincy wrote:
It appears to me that everyone is ignoring the OPs stated problems. If his IPhone will work with the hotel's networks (as will his PC) and his IPAD won't than it appears that the problem is the IPAD not the hotel. I think "Elementary, My dear Watson" is in order here.

Actually, you have it reversed. Back when wifi first starting appearing in hotels, hotel IT departments were configuring their networks to only work with PCs that had IE. My Macs would not work on their wifi. Was this Apple's fault that hotels were configuring their wifi to only work with IE on a PC? Where the iPad is a new device, hotels will need to update router firmware and make changes to their configurations.

pkincy wrote:
My my we have some biased posters around. ("The IPAD is perfect the problem is everywhere else", is ultimately a less than helpful response.)
Perry

He might be biased (or not) but etresoft is correct, the Princeton story is completely irrelevant to connecting to WiFi services at hotels/universities, etc.

If the many posters on this subject would do a search of the forums they would find that the subject of hotel wifi has come up before.

For example see this thread http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2389491&start=0&tstart=0

There can be a conflict with the Safari autofill option with some WiFi services. Before attempting to logon go to Settings > Safari > AutoFill and turn it off.