BT WiFi (Fon)

Is it normal for these "hotspots" to be unreliable and flaky?

I have been, well trying to use one near where I have moved to until the place I am sharing gets a better connection as it is currently 2mb ADSL and its unusable.

The BT hotspot gives me 10mb when it works and is much better.

The problem I seem to be having is It wont provide me with an IP address and so, No connection.

I tried to input an IP manually using the same IP's for dns, gateway etc I had from it when it does work but that was a no go as well.

Could it just be the person whose connection I am using is just unplugging
the phone line or something when they are not in but leaving the router on for some odd reason? or is there something else wrong?

I sometimes encounter these type of problems with BT Wi-Fi hotspots. Fortunately for my usage I just drive a bit further down the street to find another one that does work.

I don't know what the "owners" of these hotspots are doing to their homehubs and if it means they are in contravention of their agreeing to become part of the FON community but I too would be interested to learn more.

I cant move sadly

Id love to know what they get up to as well, I went out last week with my phone and using a wifi analyzer app I found the house that has the BT WiFi hotspot. I did this to try and position my wifi extender or receiver in the best place to get a good signal, Maybe I should go knock and ask! xD

Hi,

I, personally, do not use public hotspots unless I ABSOLUTELY have to. My phone has a hotspot that I can set up that is far more secure than any public one. If I have to use a public hotspot then I only do the absolute bare essentials that do not require security (i.e. general browsing).

HTH,

Most net traffic is secured, My gmail. banking etc are HTTPS so i am not to worried there. 4G Coverage here is PANTS. id be lucky to get 1 or 2mb out of it.. No better than the connection the house has.

Tomorrow is the date (today now i guess!) that the landlord said TT will be upgrading the line from ADSL to FTTC so should get 60-80mb then.

I have managed to use the BT WiFi tonight but its been very erratic. My mother has BT Broadband and so i have been able to use her login and not have to pay the rather large cost BT want to use it!

If connecting on 2.4 GHz band remember likely to be highly congested and WiFi has the issue where you can see signal but as soon as you try and use it channel congestion issues show up

Unlikely they are sat there watching for someone to use it and then switch it off, but much more likely that the vagaries of Wifi are hitting you.