Windows 10: Unable to connect to public wifi on my Dell laptop (running Windows 10)

Hi Everyone


In the last few months, my laptop has suddenly decided to stop connecting to public wifi (for example, in Starbucks). I'm not sure what the issue is. I have tried problem shooting including turning off the firewall, uninstalling and reinstalling the relevant drivers, shutting off and restarting my laptop etc.


What happens is my laptop will say it's connected to the network - but every time I try to get on a website this appears:





I've tried using Windows Internet Explorer and Firefox to see if it's an issue with Chrome, but I've had the same problem with these browsers as well.


When I was actually in Starbucks I checked my network and I had the following screen:





As you can see, it says I'm connected to the internet - so I'm not sure what the issue is. Can anyone help please? It would be really good if I could get this resolved as this is pretty much making my laptop useless outside my house.


(Before posting this message I've already checked existing threads and I've tried the suggested solutions but with no luck). BTW, I'm running TotalAV protection and I haven't been able to fiddle with the settings to make this work.


Thank you

:)

 

Can't connect to certain public WiFi.

Hi,

To better assist you with the public WiFi connection issue, please answer the following questions:

• Which Windows version is currently running on your phone?
• Are you able to connect your phone to other public WiFi hotspot?
• What troubleshooting steps have you tried so far?

Regards.

 

using mob phone connected to i/net via public wifi to connect laptop


Hi, recently purchased new laptop with windows 10 installed. I currently use public/open wifi connection to connect to the internet for non private surfing (private matters dealt with via payg dongle). However, this open wifi connection can be erratic (whereas previous laptop running windows 7 connected as and when requested). Once connected, it is faultless and speedy enough for my needs. I have also marked this connection as ‘automatic’.
I know that it is not the signal strength, it is simply the initial connection, with which my new laptop seems to struggle with! My screen shows all available networks so is picking up all correct signals. When I click ‘connect’ it will go through the motions for approx 2-3 seconds and then say ‘unable to connect to this network’ and other times, it will say ‘connecting’ and will go through these motions, and will continue to say ‘connecting’ for 15 minutes and longer or until I get sick of waiting!
On the occasions when it does finally ‘connect’, it will begin with a message in the ‘action centre’ saying ‘click on message to connect to open wifi’-it will then go to the open/public wifi homepage and connect-from thereon, I am fine.
Why won’t my laptop connect as easily to open wifi as last machine did on windows 7, and why does it continually say ‘unable to connect to internet’ or remain in ‘connecting’ mode?
A further query I have (apologies) is when my laptop refuses to connect to internet as above, my mobile phone connects to the open wifi easily so I certainly know that it is not the distance that is in question, or the strength of signal-bearing this in mind, is it possible to connect my laptop and mobile phone via usb and possible to use my phone when it is connected to the open wifi source to connect my laptop to internet via this route? If so, would somebody give me step by step instructions to connect this way, please. The phone I currently have is a 3g sony xperia mini pro (which I am sure you can gather I have had for few years now!)
Many thanks for all replies and all assistance is gratefully received.

 

Laptop unable to automatically connect to university wifi


Hello,

as the Title says, ever since upgrading to windows 10, my laptop will not automatically connect to my university wifi. It simply says (translated from german) "connection to this network is impossible".
to bypass this issue i have to go to the "known networks" list and make my laptop forget the university wifi network.
after that i can manually connect to the wifi and it prompts me to type in my id and pass as it is supposed to, then it logs me in. It is (obviously) a public network, so i suppose its got to do something with security settings, but i didnt find anything that would seem to solve the issue.
things ive tried:

• change frequency of 802.11 to 20MHz only (from automatically).
• enable FIPS encryption.
• Update my network adapters drivers.
• manually type in the id and pw in the specific networks settings

the thing is, when i had win7 on this laptop it would always autoconnect to this network, it only happened after installing win10.

edit: fixed typo in title