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Groups > comp.os.linux.networking > #4084

Captive portals ignore some URLs

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I've been doing some traveling lately, and as a result have been
connecting to a lot of wi-fi hot spots.  However, it's not as
straightforward as it should be.  Many captive portals seem to
be picky about which URL you initially try to access.  If it
isn't a well-known site like Google, many portals will silently
ignore any attempts to access the site, and the browser will hang.

I'm trying to eliminate (or at least minimize) my use of Google -
they're becoming way too intrusive for my taste.  My search engine
of choice is now DuckDuckGo - but this is one site that doesn't
work with captivce portals.  I'm trying other URLs (e.g. cnn.com)
to get around this.

Anything I've been able to find on captive portals says that they
will redirect any URL to themselves.  This, I can say from experience,
is not true.  I know about the problems with HTTPS redirects - but
why should ordinary HTTP requests be quietly ignored?

I suspect many people don't notice this problem because their browser
is set to go to Google on startup.  I configure my browsers to display
a blank page on startup - I go many different places, and there's no
reason why I should be first be sent off to Google (or some other site)
if I really want to go somewhere else - especially if network response
is slow.

Does anyone have any suggestions for dealing with this, or should
I just try to find a URL which is recognized by captive portals
that isn't an agent of Big Brother?

-- 
/~\  cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid (Charlie Gibbs)
\ /  I'm really at ac.dekanfrus if you read it the right way.
 X   Top-posted messages will probably be ignored.  See RFC1855.
/ \  HTML will DEFINITELY be ignored.  Join the ASCII ribbon campaign!

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Thread

Captive portals ignore some URLs Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2017-09-24 22:52 +0000
  Re: Captive portals ignore some URLs not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2017-09-24 23:08 +0000
  Re: Captive portals ignore some URLs not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2017-09-26 23:08 +0000
    Re: Captive portals ignore some URLs Moe Trin <ibuprofin@painkiller.example.tld.invalid> - 2017-09-27 03:53 +0000
      Re: Captive portals ignore some URLs Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2017-09-27 15:38 +0000
        Re: Captive portals ignore some URLs Moe Trin <ibuprofin@painkiller.example.tld.invalid> - 2017-09-27 19:11 +0000
  Re: Captive portals ignore some URLs Moe Trin <ibuprofin@painkiller.example.tld.invalid> - 2017-09-27 19:10 +0000
    Re: Captive portals ignore some URLs Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2017-09-30 00:42 +0000
      Re: Captive portals ignore some URLs Moe Trin <ibuprofin@painkiller.example.tld.invalid> - 2017-09-30 23:19 +0000
        Re: Captive portals ignore some URLs Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2017-10-02 15:33 +0000
          Re: Captive portals ignore some URLs Moe Trin <ibuprofin@painkiller.example.tld.invalid> - 2017-10-04 03:14 +0000

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