Introduction

We’re traveling and I brought my Samsung S7 Tablet which I only use occasionally. We’re staying at a Hyatt Hotel that has an unsecured public WiFi. Initially my iPad had a problem connecting to the network but after rebooting it did connect. Pulling up a sign-in Page and agreeing to the terms is necessary, even though it’s a free, unsecured network.

Later I tried the same thing with a Samsung Tab S tablet and it encountered the same difficulty. Even knowing how to handle connecting failed to help resolve the problem on Android. After a few minutes of searching Google I finally found the solution buried within a forum which seemed obscure enough for me to make the decision to publish it again here.

The Problem

Connecting to a public WiFi with an Android device on OS version 6.0.1 Marshmallow fails. What’s really confusing about this is that the device appears to connect to the network. It says it’s connected and even shows signal strength but it’s not really connected. The reason is because seeing and agreeing to the WiFi’s terms is necessary before a successful connection can be made. See the screenshot below.

Below:  Settings Shows I’m Connected with Fair Signal Strength but the top status bar shows no bars…Google Play says I have no internet connection.

The Solution

The solution was a simple one once I found it. Just to make sure everyone reading this understands the environment, I’ll reiterate that first.

• Device Used:  Samsung Tab S 7” tablet
• OS is Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow
• The WiFi I’m attempting to connect to is the Hyatt Hotel unsecured public WiFi.

Solution

Go into Settings – General – Date and Time

Look for the box ‘Automatic date and time‘ and add a check to the checkbox.

Connecting to WiFi

You can try to connect to the unsecured WiFi either in Settings – Connections – WiFi 

or

You can try opening Chrome or Google Play to see if you can engage in an automatic process for the same thing to happen.

In either event it’s important that after selecting ‘Connect‘ you see the public WiFi’s browser based login page, which displays some terms you need to agree to 1st. After agreeing you should connect automatically.

Below:  After following the step described above I finally connected for real!

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