Using public wifi - limitations/problems?

[ArtieTheOneManParty]

I was just in Toronto for the weekend, and while I had the global data plan enabled, I tried to use wifi when I was out and about, as the global data was only 50mb. I was usually able to connect to the wifi offered at various restaurants/bars, but not always. My friends with iPhones typically had an easier time. Also, I had trouble uploading a video or pictures in a few spots, so I gave up. Most of the places I went required some sort of username an password, which I always obtained and entered through the browser. Does the wifi usually act differently in these cases, or are features like uploading videos not allowed? My wifi at home works great of course.

There were also a few cases where it would say "obtaining ip address", then "connected", and it would bounce back and forth between these two states.

 

[Averix]

Sadly, public WiFi is not a consistent experience. A lot of times, a business will buy a server or pay someone to put the service in that is just reselling someone else's product. There are a lot of variables to deal with in WiFi installations. Those log in pages, the ping pong between obtaining and connected, badly implemented firewalls and proxy settings can all cause weird behavior. Badly positioned antennas and overlapping channels can cause a major problem. The age of the equipment/service can also create problems. The older one of these setups is, the more experimental the technology used to do the proxy and address translation was. There is no magic bullet fix for situations like this. Just go to a big (or even a small) convention and see how flaky the WiFi is in that relatively controlled environment.