Wifi Spash Screens wont load

There has been no information confirmed about WHY different Macs, different settings, or different versions of MacOS might respond differently.

If you would like to run those experiments, the way to go about it would be to create a new, named Network Location file, NOT using the default settings, and set each one up from scratch:

How to use network locations on your Mac - Apple Support

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It does not load because you need to force some network traffic. You are doing so by entering the url you mention. Entering any url should also work. It won't automatically load because it is configured that way on the router.

Unless you own the public network or have admin rights to its configuration you can't fix it. I've traveled to many continents in the World and the issue show up at many locations, airports, coffee shops, hotels, etc. It is not a setting on your computer that needs fixing.

alastair149 wrote:

But long term I want to fix the root problem.

Long term the best solution is to only connect to encrypted Wi-Fi connections.

Typically shown with a padlock beside their name in your Wi-Fi menu, encrypted networks ask for a password in a standard dialog. Once you've entered the password, you'll typically never need to do it again on that device as your computer will remember it.

Public Wi-Fi networks by default —anything you enter on an unsecured, non-HTTPS site could be viewed by anyone else on the network.

There is no magic bullet here. You have a proven method.

You want to dig deeper you can read through the long list to jump start your splash page.

https://zapier.com/blog/open-wifi-login-page/

alastair149 - You're not losing your mind. With all due deference to Bob the fisherman above I disagree with the assessment he provides. I travel with two macs, late 2013 MBPr and 2016 MBPr, both 10.14.4. The company one, 2016 loads every splash page perfectly and immediately. My 2013 never, often requires rebooting to get the page to show up. Occasionally I'll get the blank splash page you indicate above with 'page cannot be loaded' which leaves no way to log in or accept. Starbucks in the US is a great example of this behavior. 2016 loads immediate while the 2013 won't. Home, office traffic functions fast and well.

Comparing settings between the two machines, I cannot find anything that stands out. Firefox, Safari, Chrome makes no difference. The one clue is sometimes if I repeatedly refresh the page I'll get a warning page this site is not trusted, if I bypass that to select go to the website the splash page will load.

This seems to be related to sites where automatic login to the Wifi is used but will then take to an acceptance splash page. It's this acceptance page that is the problem, thus preventing access to the internet.

Reboots, NVRAM and SMC resets no change. I suspect this is a setting somewhere, but can't seem to track it down.

You need to generate some traffic that can be intercepted by the local Router. One possible complication is that your DNS request (to look up the Internet Phone nimbler) may not be passed through. Several suggestions have been offered in similar discussions here:

• copy the Router IP address shown in system Preferences > Network. Enter that exact IP address into the URL box in the browser. (Essentially, request a web page directly from the local Router.)

• enter a physical IP address into the URL box in the browser, such as Apple's main web page in the US:

17.142.160.59

• enter 1.1.1.1 into the URL bar in the browser. This is the splash page for a new DNS service that is becoming available. Its BIG advantage is that I can remember it, and it is a "real" web address that responds to an http: connection.

So to prove your point, why does mac 2016 work effortlessly and consistently with ease and the 2013 consistently does not?

Something is different.

Unless its somehow automatically following some script doing the things you list above without user input?