This isn't a question because I worked it out. But I found it difficult to search for. So I thought I would document it here for others to be able to come across with a search. Basically I'm just adding this so Google finds it to help others. There may be simpler ways of doing it but it's how I did it.
Problem
Last year my daughter lived in student accommodation on campus. We never could get her Nintendo Switch, Roku stick (Netflix, Prime Video, Now TV, etc, etc) and Google Nest/Home working. This year she is in private student accommodation but had the same problem. There is free wifi in the building and an ethernet port in the wall. The ethernet port didn't seem to be active. The free wifi implements a captive portal system where you connect to the wifi without a password. But then you need to create an account and login on a webpage. Without logging in to the web page you can only access the internet providers pages and are blocked from any other access. So no other web pages work and no other devices can connect without logging in. Her Macbook, ipad and phone connect to the internet absolutely fine but no other devices would.
So, she could watch Netflix, etc, on her phone, ipad and Macbook. But she couldn't watch it on the big TV or listen to the radio on her Google Home. These devices simply wouldn't connect to the captive portal system.
We asked at the front desk and they couldn't help. We also raised a ticket to the internet provider asking how it could be done but they didn't respond after a few days.
Solution
1) I have a GL.iNet Mango travel router.
2) I set this up as a repeater. So it connects to the free wifi in the room and then has its own wifi SSID to connect to (it also has an ethernet port but the port in the wall didn't seem to be active).
3) The Mango initially behaved the same way as other devices. It could not access any data because there was no way for it to login to the captive portal page.
5) I then accessed my daughters account page on the internet providers website. One of the options was to manage devices. I could see all devices connected to the free wifi including their MAC address. I could delete or add MAC addresses but adding the router MAC address for the Mango router didn't solve the issue.
4) So I logged into the free wifi using my laptop and authenticated it using the captive portal web page.
5) I went back to the account page and found my laptops MAC address.
6) I logged into the Mango router and set it up to clone the MAC address of my fully authenticated laptop.
7) This worked for a short time but the Mango router would disconnect after about 30 mins.
8) I then logged back into the Mango router and set it to override DNS settings. This stopped it timing out. I don't know why this made a difference but it was a tip I found on a different article.
Now she can simply connect any device to our own GL.iNet Mango travel router without needing to go through the captive portal page. The Roku stick works for streaming TV and the Google Home works for a radio in her room and setting alarms etc. It has locked up a couple of times but restarting the Mango router fixed the issue and it has been running fine again for several days now. I think the lockup was an issue with the Mango router rather than the solution so I might get her a better router if it does it again. The Mango is only a £29 cheap travel router.
Summary
Create a wifi repeater using your own router. Clone the MAC address from a fully authenticated device. Override DNS settings.
As I said at the start, there may be a more official way to connect these devices. But the wifi provider hadn't replied to our support ticket asking how. I also found quite a few people online looking for a similar solution. So I thought this might be useful. I also did pay the internet provider for the unlimited devices add on. I didn't have to because I could connect unlimited devices to the Mango router. But it was cheap and I wasn't trying to cheat them out of money; I was simply trying to get her devices connected in a way that worked despite the captive portal.
Problem
Last year my daughter lived in student accommodation on campus. We never could get her Nintendo Switch, Roku stick (Netflix, Prime Video, Now TV, etc, etc) and Google Nest/Home working. This year she is in private student accommodation but had the same problem. There is free wifi in the building and an ethernet port in the wall. The ethernet port didn't seem to be active. The free wifi implements a captive portal system where you connect to the wifi without a password. But then you need to create an account and login on a webpage. Without logging in to the web page you can only access the internet providers pages and are blocked from any other access. So no other web pages work and no other devices can connect without logging in. Her Macbook, ipad and phone connect to the internet absolutely fine but no other devices would.
So, she could watch Netflix, etc, on her phone, ipad and Macbook. But she couldn't watch it on the big TV or listen to the radio on her Google Home. These devices simply wouldn't connect to the captive portal system.
We asked at the front desk and they couldn't help. We also raised a ticket to the internet provider asking how it could be done but they didn't respond after a few days.
Solution
1) I have a GL.iNet Mango travel router.
2) I set this up as a repeater. So it connects to the free wifi in the room and then has its own wifi SSID to connect to (it also has an ethernet port but the port in the wall didn't seem to be active).
3) The Mango initially behaved the same way as other devices. It could not access any data because there was no way for it to login to the captive portal page.
5) I then accessed my daughters account page on the internet providers website. One of the options was to manage devices. I could see all devices connected to the free wifi including their MAC address. I could delete or add MAC addresses but adding the router MAC address for the Mango router didn't solve the issue.
4) So I logged into the free wifi using my laptop and authenticated it using the captive portal web page.
5) I went back to the account page and found my laptops MAC address.
6) I logged into the Mango router and set it up to clone the MAC address of my fully authenticated laptop.
7) This worked for a short time but the Mango router would disconnect after about 30 mins.
8) I then logged back into the Mango router and set it to override DNS settings. This stopped it timing out. I don't know why this made a difference but it was a tip I found on a different article.
Now she can simply connect any device to our own GL.iNet Mango travel router without needing to go through the captive portal page. The Roku stick works for streaming TV and the Google Home works for a radio in her room and setting alarms etc. It has locked up a couple of times but restarting the Mango router fixed the issue and it has been running fine again for several days now. I think the lockup was an issue with the Mango router rather than the solution so I might get her a better router if it does it again. The Mango is only a £29 cheap travel router.
Summary
Create a wifi repeater using your own router. Clone the MAC address from a fully authenticated device. Override DNS settings.
As I said at the start, there may be a more official way to connect these devices. But the wifi provider hadn't replied to our support ticket asking how. I also found quite a few people online looking for a similar solution. So I thought this might be useful. I also did pay the internet provider for the unlimited devices add on. I didn't have to because I could connect unlimited devices to the Mango router. But it was cheap and I wasn't trying to cheat them out of money; I was simply trying to get her devices connected in a way that worked despite the captive portal.
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