BUG REPORT: Arlo Q can't access local public WLAN / can't accept terms

[rkm]

Hello

we purchased the Arlo Q (as an addition to the 8 wireless Arlos that we already have) as a wired babyphone.

While the Q works at home (not without issues / see my "huge lag" post, but that's another story), I can't get it to connect to the wireless here in the hospital where we're currently at.

I think the problem is as follows:

The hostpital has a "free public WLAN". It doesn't require any login credentials, however after loggin in on PC and mobile devices you're redirected to a "please accept terms and conditions" page, where you have to check a checkmark and hit "okay".

The problem is that the Q only gives me the option to enter the SSID and the PW (which is empty), however it does NOT redirect me to the "accept terms" page (neither on the browser interface nor on the iPhone).

Without that, the public WLAN will not establish a connection with the internet, thus rendering the Q useless in this case as I can't get any internet connection.

This is a design bug IMHO as the described case (which would be similar in many hotels, airports and ohter places with public WLAN) is not being handled properly.

Please forward this to the devs for urgent fixing.

In the meanwhile - is there any workaround for this? It's highly disappointing that the Q doesn't work for what we bought it for...

Thanks

Rob

[jguerdat]

A hospital or other place that may well place some level of security above what a typical home installation would have could be blocking access Arlo needs.  Use of a public network can't be solved by us but only by contacting the support for that network.

[rkm]

Okay I don't think you read my post.

We're not talking MORE security here, we're actually talking LESS security in a scenario like this, because the connection to the wireless network is NOT password protected.

It's a sipmle programming flaw that the arlo software currently has. 

ANY smartphone can show you how it's done: When you connect to a non-password protected network that does, however, have a "bridge" page with t&c: Show the freaking page, let the user accept the terms by checking the checkmark, and all is good.

This is a miniscule programming fix. 

[jguerdat]

Just because the public WiFi has no password doesn't mean the firewall/whatever doesn't block access to certain sites.  That's a site configuration issue, not an Arlo one.

[rkm]

that is true indeed - however, the problem, in this case, CLEARLY is that bridge page that asks for a confirmation of the terms; or, to be more specific, the problem is that the arlo software doesn't show this page. 

And again, being a frequent traveller I've seen this a lot, so it CLEARLY would be a fix that would improve the usability of the system. 

Why is it that with netgear you ALWAYS have to argue with support ("that's your fault") whereas other companies, ASUS comes to my mind as a direct competitor at least in some fields, happily welcome any feedback and really try to help and make improvements?

Geez...

[hokeysmoke]

FYI most of what you read here is from users (like me), not support people.  Please don't blame support folks for the manners of others.

Regarding the issue you are seeing, the Q would need to be compatible with captive portals, which are designed mostly to only allow devices that have browser capabilities (i.e. smartphones and laptops).  While the Q might be powerful enough to run a browser, I don't know how it could enable you to hit the "accept" button or whether Netgear would even want you to be able to accept without actually reading the terms.  The only user interface to the WiFi that I know of is the QR code reader, which is a one-way communication (it encodes the SSID and password into an image that can be read by the camera).  Captive portals generally need two-way communication to function.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captive_portal