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Smartphone-only wifi access, Laptops not working.. Please help..?!

  • 21-10-2015 3:22pm
    #1
    JayC5
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 333 ✭✭


    Hi,

    Calling on the power of the crowd here for some assistance:

    OK, to cut a long story short, I'm currently working/living in Thailand, in an apartment complex with free/shared WiFi for all residents. The service worked fine up until a few weeks ago, and now only phones/iPads appear to connect correctly.

    Previously, both my Windows 7 and 8 laptops worked fine, but now do not (they work perfectly when I tether my phone and also when I use them in work, so I know the issue is not with the laptops themselves. Also, one is quiet new). Strangely enough, while not being able to browse any pages or use a browser at all (it acts as if there's no connection), I can still download torrents that remain in my torrent queue at significant speeds. So, there's a connection there working somewhere, but no google or browser activity.

    My landlord can't speak any English unfortunately, so that's one hurdle. I've had someone translate the issue to him, and the reply I got was that it was looked at and that all is fine (!). When I look at my Wireless Connection Status the IPv6 Connectivity section states that there is no Internet Access, could this be related to the problem?

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I'm considering getting my own private line in, but fear the same issue will occur along with nonexistent customer support to rectify it...

    Cheers


Comments

  • #2
    NachoBusiness
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,389 ✭✭✭NachoBusiness


    Can you connect to it on your phone?

    Anyway, I'd suggest reinstalling your browsers while at work and system restore to a point when you had no issues.

    Have you installed an anti-virus of late? I have had that stop my browsers connecting to networks at times.


  • #3
    long_b
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,963 ✭✭✭long_b


    See if your PCs can connect OK under Linux using an Ubuntu Live CD (http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop)


  • #4
    JayC5
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 333 ✭✭JayC5


    NachoBusiness wrote: »
    Can you connect to it on your phone?


    All phones work, both Apple and Samsung, including an iPad 2. Everything was fine, then suddenly both laptops stopped working in unison. One is a few years old using Win 7, and the second is new running Win 8. Both laptops work on my wifi connection at work, therefore I think it has to be something other than the browsers, right?

    :confused:


  • #5
    jca
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,585 ✭✭✭jca


    It happened to me my ancient acer laptop wouldn't connect in fact it couldn't even see the network at all. I changed the broadcast channel to a low number 7 I think and it now works fine. After much head scratching it turns out some older nic's can't see channels higher than 10.


  • #6
    jay93
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,323 ✭✭✭jay93


    jca wrote: »
    It happened to me my ancient acer laptop wouldn't connect in fact it couldn't even see the network at all. I changed the broadcast channel to a low number 7 I think and it now works fine. After much head scratching it turns out some older nic's can't see channels higher than 10.

    Yeah I've seen this problem before with certain network cards on laptops they wouldn't see channel 12 or 13 I had to manually set the WiFi channel to a lower channel for it to show up on the laptop.


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  • #7
    edanto
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,809 ✭✭✭edanto


    We know it's not the WiFi cards in the laptops, since they work elsewhere and we know that it's not the WiFi network since your phone works. I think your MAC addresses are blocked by the admin.

    Interesting that you mention torrents. On some shared WiFi networks that I manage, if we observe torrent traffic (which is against the terms of use), the device is blocked by MAC address. The person concerned will have the experience you are describing, where their device connects to the WiFi, but all traffic out to the internet is blocked.

    I'm reminded of that in this case, but if that _is_ what's happening it's not very effective since the torrent ports are still working for you!

    Perhaps they have set the blocking to only block ports 80 and 443 for each MAC address on the 'block' list, which is why torrents that are still in your queue are running.

    I'd suggest that you look at the terms of use of the WiFi and see if torrenting is mentioned. Then, if you want internet access you might have to go find the network admin and 'fess up.


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