The observation car of an Amtrak train

by Charles Miller

The process of writing last week's column on the subject of captive portals and how to use them resulted in me having a good number of notes and ideas in my outline, many of which did not make it into the column. Usually those notes, which I put in outline form when writing these columns, end up in the circular file. However, the subject of captive portals and finding good internet connectivity while traveling is still much on my mind as I write this while sitting at a table in the observation car of an Amtrak train. The fact that Amtrak does not have Wi-Fi available on this train notwithstanding, there are still some points about finding and using Wi-Fi while traveling that could prove useful to some readers as they travel.

For those who perhaps did not read last week's column, a "captive portal" is something you unexpectedly discover displayed on your laptop, smart phone, or tablet when connecting to free public Wi-Fi while traveling. A captive portal is a web page that you may be automatically taken to when connecting to the free Wi-Fi in public places such as airports, hotels, buses, restaurants, etc. Captive portals come in many different types. Some simply want you to click on an acknowledgement that you have read and understand the provider's terms and conditions. Others, such as those of most airlines, want you to enter a credit card number to purchase so many minutes of access.

Still others might not require payment, but do ask you to provide some form of authentication, such as the high-speed rail in Turkey that only required entering my seat number.

After that you may receive some pages of advertising to click through. The Wi-Fi on a ferry boat I rode displayed a captive portal required that I take a "1 minute survey" before turning me loose to surf the web.

If you have found a free public Wi-Fi signal and can connect to it with no password required, but there is no internet connectivity and you cannot find its captive portal page, this could be because of your device's security. On your computer or mobile device try temporarily disabling any ad blocking software and/or browser extensions that clear your cookies.

If you have learned from the tips I have offered up to this point, then you are ready for something a bit more challenging. When you travel, some captive portals will present only in the local language and not English. In this case you may have to fly blind and click the screen on a button that looks like it might read [Continue] in a language you do not read. If you are lucky it will be the only button on the page.

And then, as explained herein above, the next page you see could be advertising. I suggest not automatically clicking on the first button you see because in the example below that would take you to the web site of a rental car company Instead, look for an [X] icon to close the ad, or in this example it was clicking on the globe icon in the upper left to escape the ad and the captive portal to then access the internet.

You will undoubtedly discover that free public Wi-Fi is often curated (read: censored). Gambling and porn sites are usually blocked, as are sites requiring a lot of bandwidth. This can include video calls and software updates. Trains, planes, and other conveyances are often strained to share limited bandwidth with many riders, so you may be limited to email and low resource-demanding web sites.

This may be only a coincidence, but I have seen free Wi-Fi available on a bus where the captive portal page says something like "Sponsored by Meta." Then once connected the one and only site on the whole internet that was accessible using that free Wi-Fi was (big surprise) facebook.com.

And last but not least, you should never assume it is safe to use any public Wi-Fi for anything requiring security, so no online banking. Using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is sometimes the answer, however; many public Wi-Fi systems block the use of a VPN to prevent guests using one to circumvent blocks on prohibited usage.

Finding Wi-Fi connectivity while away from home can have its challenges, so be prepared and be patient. Safe travels!

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Charles Miller is a freelance computer consultant with decades of IT experience and a Texan with a lifetime love for Mexico. The opinions expressed are his own. He may be contacted at 415-101-8528 or email FAQ8 (at) SMAguru.com.

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