You are here

Home » Forums » Deployment

GL.inet AR300M16 captive hotel wifi access

10 posts / 0 new
Log in or register to post comments
Last post
Wed, 06/04/2025 - 12:52
#1
WK7G
WK7G's picture
GL.inet AR300M16 captive hotel wifi access
Has anyone connected an AR300M16 to a hotel captive wifi. I see how to do it with the OEM firmware.
Is there a radio purpose setting that must be changed. If hotel wifi connection is not possible can you connect to a phone hotspot?
 
Top
Wed, 06/04/2025 - 13:07
K7EOK
I don't know what a "captive"
I don't know what a "captive" wifi is.  But I have connected on the road with that device via a tunnel to the mesh.  Works fine, but you can only connect if the location you are at has 2.4ghz available.  For dual band you have to get a more expensive model.

I have used my cell phone as a hot spot also.

Ed
Top
Wed, 06/04/2025 - 16:28
WK7G
WK7G's picture
Captive wifi is when the have
Captive wifi is when they have an authentication program instead of an SSID and password
Top
Wed, 06/04/2025 - 21:40
nc8q
nc8q's picture
AR300M16 to a hotel captive wifi.
What is captive Wi-Fi?
"Has anyone connected an AR300M16 to a hotel captive wifi."
I have connected my AR300M16 to a Wi-Fi Access Point.
"Is there a radio purpose setting that must be changed."
Yes, configure the radio for 'WAN Client'.
"If hotel wifi connection is not possible can you connect to a phone hotspot?"
It does not matter whether 'hotel Wi-Fi' connection is available,
it is still possible to connect to a cell phone hotspot.

73, Chuck
 
Top
Thu, 06/05/2025 - 10:38
K7EOK
Chucks comments remind me to
Chucks comments remind me to mention ... the AR300M16 has only one radio.  Correct reminder to set the radio to WAN Client ... but now it does not provide any other wifi so you must cable from the LAN port to the ethernet port of the computer you want to use on LAN.  If you do the same with a hAP ac lite then one radio can be WAN Client and the other radio provide wifi for other devices ... but it's so darned convenient on the road to power the AR300M16 via USB and hook up LAN with short cables to your laptop.  You can't beat the price but beware sometimes there is no available 2.4 wifi.

Ed
Top
Thu, 06/05/2025 - 11:24
WK7G
WK7G's picture
Hotel Wifi
I got it working on my phone hotspot fine!
I'm trying to figure out the mac address cloning mentioned on the GL.iNet support. Some how you log in with your laptop and establish a connection then you clone the mac address of your laptop to your AREDN Node. I havent  figured out how to change that yet/.
Top
Thu, 06/05/2025 - 13:08
K7EOK
Now I'm really confused. 
Now I'm really confused.  This is an AREDN forum.  We assumed you have replaced the factory software with AREDN firmware and are using this with a tunnel to get onto AREDN mesh.  All the things I do with this device are controlled via the AREDN firmware.  I no longer have a GL.iNET web admin panel.  

I have never had to clone any MAC address to connect via hotel wifi so I don't get what you're trying to do.  If the device is setup as WAN Client then I connect to the network provided by the AR300M16 via ethernet cable (wireless on laptop turned off) and when I try to use internet, I get the hotel login page.  No problem, I login and then once on internet activate my tunnel.

Ed
Top
Thu, 06/05/2025 - 18:59
WK7G
WK7G's picture
Ed
Ed, sorry for the confusion!
Yes I have 3.25.5.1 firmware on the AR-300M16. I can connect with my phone hotspot and everything works with on the node and I can also tunnel through to other nodes.
 
What is a captive portal?
A captive portal is a Web page where public hotspots require users to view and interact with the page before Internet access is granted.

When a hotel requires you to login to their network via a web page, how do you do it through a node in "WAN Client" mode. You can't just put an SSID and password like a home LAN or a phone hotspot.  Most hotels require you to enter your last name and Room Number and may ask billing or stay information.

The MAC address cloning is to fool the hotel wifi that it is another device that has already logged in to the wifi. I do not believe the AREDN FW has anywhere to change the MAC Address as in the OEM firmware from GL.iNet. Hopefully there is a simple solution to this and I'm just making it harder than it should be.
Top
Thu, 06/05/2025 - 19:18
WK7G
WK7G's picture
Update
In case this helps anyone else trying to connect via hotel wifi:
1. Power up GL.iNet AR300M16 via USB
2. Make sure Laptop/Computer wifi is turned off
3. Connect ethernet cable from AR300M16 to laptop/Computer
4. Change AR300M16 to "WAN Client" and enter the hotel SSID into the SSID Wan Client box, make sure password is blank.
5. Open a web page in your browser. The hotel captive portal login should display so you can log in.
   -If it doesn't connect, run the network administration wizard. (Once I did this it connected to the hotel captive portal login)

Thanks for the help Ed!
Top
Thu, 06/05/2025 - 22:36
K7EOK
Glad it's working.  The only
Glad it's working.  The only thing lacking in the AR300M16 (besides only 2.4ghz) is that there is no way to search for the ssid you want to use.  There is no scan feature in the AR300M16... but ... WAIT ... yes the AREDN firmware now has a wifi scan in the tools on the lower left corner.  Yeah!  Just power up the node and when you can get the main page login and scan.  

Ed
Top

Theme by Danetsoft and Danang Probo Sayekti inspired by Maksimer