Huawei G526 Wi-Fi issues

chichi on 08/06/2014 - 20:43

I'll start by saying that I have next to no knowledge when it comes to phones. So I hope I'm explaining this right…

I purchased a Huawei G526 recently and had it unlocked - no problems there. Connected it to my internet at home - no problems - can access email, facebook, google etc.

Went to Northland a few days ago and tried to use the phone with their free wifi. It came up as saying connected (in the wifi settings) but wouldn't load anything when I tried to check email and facebook.
I took it to Telstra as I'm currently using a Telstra sim in it. They tried to connect it to their internet and it wouldn't work. The guy told me it might need a factory reset so I left it with him. When I picked it up he said he had done the reset and managed to connect it to their internet.

Since then I have been using it at home without a problem. Went to Northland again today and the same problem. Tried connecting to the Northland free wifi, McDonalds and also Target free wifi. All came up as saying connected in the settings but it didn't actually connect.

Now I have no idea if there is some other setting that I don't know about or of there is a fault with the phone. I'm hoping someone here can help me out.

Mobile

Comments

  • retiredfeline on 08/06/2014 - 20:48
    +3

    Many free WiFi places require you to accept their T&C on a web browser first. So after the WiFi has connected, open up the browser and go to say www.abc.net.au. You will be diverted to their website where the T&C will be presented. Sometimes they ask for your email address to send you advertising. If may be optional. If not often you can get away with putting any old valid looking address. I usually use something like [email protected].

    • chichi on 08/06/2014 - 21:02

      Thanks greenpossum. Unfortunately I couldn't even get it to load the T&C page. My husband managed to access the internet easily on his phone but absolutely nothing happened on mine.

      I've used their free wifi previously with my ipad so have seen the page before and had no problems at all.

      • retiredfeline on 08/06/2014 - 21:27

        See if you can clear the browser cache and cookies on your smartphone.

        • scrimshaw on 08/06/2014 - 21:31

          This sounds like a common issue with WLAN networks that feature secondary authentication.
          When you connect to a public hotspot that features a proxy server which forces you to visit a page to enter a password, you may also need to change your Wifi Proxy settings to None (from Manual).

          Try using a different browser. If you're using Chrome, switch over to Dolphin or Firefox, and change the User Agent ID to "Desktop".

          This might get the authentication / sign in page to work.

  • Cheeper on 08/06/2014 - 22:36

    Its not unusual to have trouble connecting to free public wifi… I have a sony and a lg smart phone here (as well as a lovely G526) and find difficulty getting onto most public connections with them all.

    BTW.. Found the G526 to work well as a stand alone internet connection providing access to 2 laptops… no problem at all.

  • retiredfeline on 09/06/2014 - 09:59
    +1

    What I have noticed is that if you try to go to a https site before authentication, it often doesn't divert to the T&C page. The firewall on these walled gardens are not smart enough to divert on a https connection. That's why I suggested a http site like www.abc.net.au for the initial site. If you try www.ozbargain.com.au the browser might try to use the last used URL which is https. The browser in newer Android releases like Kitkat, when a walled garden is detected, do a fetch of a known Google URL, which triggers a divert.

    As I mentioned, sometimes cached cookies and pages can make the browser fail to trigger a divert. I think I've always managed to connect with a smartphone, though I might have had to reset the phone a couple of occasions.

    Also have a couple of http URLs handy, if one doesn't work, try another.

  • chichi on 09/06/2014 - 10:06

    Thanks everyone for your replies. I'll try what you suggest and see if that makes a difference. My concern was that there was something wrong with the phone or that I hadn't set something correctly.

  • stevednj48 on 09/06/2014 - 10:38

    not to hijack thread but how do people find the phone overall does it get laggy in performance at all?

    i picked two of these up at kmart friday morning for $79.50

  • chichi on 10/06/2014 - 09:11

    Thankyou everyone. I tried it again today and it was as easy as using a new browser (chrome). Cheers!

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