Above: Trying to log into Wellywifi. If you get the second screen, you’re already doing well.
Despite being the person who successfully pushed for our city’s free wifi programme in 2009–10, I note the irony of being the only person (according to Wellington City Libraries staff I have spoken to) who cannot connect to it in a library.
I actually don’t believe I’m the only person, because they also tell me they have ‘never heard of’ a device trying to connect to http://www.msftconnecttest.com/redirect when I have it on good authority that all devices connect to this as part of Wellywifi. But like so many in tech support, it’s their job to gaslight the user.
Today msftconnecttest.com loaded a page at https://na.network-auth.com/splash/ once but never got beyond that at the time of writing.
Whether I use random MAC addresses or not, I’m usually at this, over and over again, for nearly an hour till I make the connection. This is the very definition of sanity when it comes to computing: doing the same thing expecting a different outcome. Because it’s proven that this works.
There is no such issue at Porirua Library, incidentally. That works exactly as advertised.
I haven’t a resolution, but I am recording this here in case anyone else has come across it, and is reading it after going on their phones and using their own data.
There’s nothing terribly remarkable with my set-up, which is Windows 11 running Vivaldi. I was so desperate I even tried Edge.
Wellywifi is the ‘only’ wifi network that seems to give me this grief.
I can go all over our city and never confront this issue.
That’s enough from Waitohi. I’ll upload this from Porirua, which doesn’t block people from its public wifi.
Above: I might not know what these squares are, but I am logged in to Porirua Free.
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