I am getting pop up messages asking me to sign into Time Warner Wifi as a member or a guest. Why?

[AC Question]

Phone is S7 Edge model SM-G935V with Verizon Wireless. I am a Time Warner Cable/Internet customer and I do have their free WiFi option but I have nothing on this phone (it's my work phone) that connects me or it to being a Time Warner WiFi customer. Further, the pop up only seems to appear when I am running Waze. Is Waze in cahoots with Time Warner?

Thanks in advance....

 

[SpookDroid]

Do you have any apps that you've signed on with your TWC account in that phone? Hulu, network apps, HBO, etc.?

 

[yazzoo7]

No. This is a work phone and I haven't added any streaming apps. You may be onto something, though. When at home, I do have the WiFi active on the phone and it sees/uses my Time Warner wireless internet rather than the 4g LTE (I gave bad info earlier...this phone is Sprint, not Verizon). Maybe it stored that in memory somewhere and looks for Time Warner internet? More information is, when I get that pop up message, it fills the entire screen and has a "more" option in the right hand corner. When I select that, I am given the option to "sign out of the Network." I do that, but a few minutes later, the pop up appears and "More" again gives me the option to "sign out of the Network." Thing is, I never sign into the Network. At least, not while driving and with the WiFi on the phone disabled.

 

[SpookDroid]

Mmm... sounds more like an ad. Not sure if Waze has those or not. Have you run any Ad Network detector apps yet? Try to see if they find any app that is pushing these onto your phone?

 

[yazzoo7]

No. To be honest, I didn't know such Apps existed. I will try that and advise. Also, the pop up that appears doesn't look like an ad. As you may know, in Waze, ads will not appear while the vehicle is moving. Whatever this is, appears while I'm driving. Thanks for taking the time to help troubleshoot this...

 

[yazzoo7]

I ran an ad network detector and it did detect a fair amount of "junk" that I deleted. Will see if that makes a difference on the drive home.

 

[yazzoo7]

Must be something with the phone or Sprint. I had the WiFi disabled and made it about 90% of the way home but the WiFi enabled itself and I got the message from Time Warner encouraging me to sign on. I selected "more" and then "sign out of network" but I was prompted to sign in again about three minutes later. I'm going to install Waze on my personal phone which is also an Edge but has Verizon service and see if I get the same annoying pop up.

 

[SpookDroid]

I knew ATT phones would try to connect automatically to public ATT WiFi hotspots but I've never heard of Sprint trying to do the same with TWC.

Have you tried 'forgetting' all WiFi networks on your phone and see if that stops the prompts?

 

[yazzoo7]

No, but I will try that as well.

 

[yazzoo7]

Figured it out. settings --> wifi --> turn wifi off --> click blue link for "scanning settings" --> set WiFi scanning to "off". Leaving WiFi scanning on allows apps to scan for wifi networks automatically even when wifi is off.

 

[SpookDroid]

Glad you got rid of it, but the mystery of why it was only Waze and only for TWC still remains. Oh, well.

 

[yazzoo7]

The only thing I can think of is, there is something running in the background in Waze that takes advantage of the opening to scan for WiFi even when WiFi is disabled on the phone. Dunno. I'm just glad I'm no longer seeing the Time Warner pop up. Thanks again for trying to help troubleshoot this.

 

[John Saxon1]

Figured it out --> wifi --> turn wifi off --> click blue link for "scanning settings" --> set WiFi scanning to "off". Leaving WiFi scanning on allows apps to scan for wifi networks automatically even when wifi is off.

Thanks, I was having the same problem!