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1. Can't remember when this had any effect on my use. Unreliability wouldn't improve either if you cut the connection and reconnected as it would bring down all
by tjoff 2y ago
1. Can't remember when this had any effect on my use. Unreliability wouldn't improve either if you cut the connection and reconnected as it would bring down all open connections. No thanks.
2. Been years since I've seen one of those. The use-case is pretty much being abroad or in a really remote area with bad cell reception. And even in those cases it seems those captive portals are going out of fashion.
All in all, so far down the list that I probably wouldn't think of them even if I tried.
- habosa 2y agoIt’s been years since you’ve seen a captive portal? I can’t remember the last time I saw a WiFi network that didn’t have a password that also had no captive portal. I’m pretty sure every airport in the US has captive portal WiFi.
- olyjohn 2y agoI haven't seen one either. But I haven't needed to connect to a public WiFi point in years. That might be the difference. Usually where there is public WiFi I can just tether on my own phone.
- Marsymars 2y agoI expect their point, which jives with my experience, is that cell coverage is now good enough that there’s no need to connect to random wifi networks where you have to deal with their portals and contend with worse performance than your cell connection.
- johnnyanmac 2y agoI can't even get "5g" in my own house. I had to order a signal strengthener (fortunately for no extra cost)... That connects to my wifi. And the speeds make me wonder if we really came that much farther from 3G. The US mobile infrastructure is an absolute sham, even in the outskirts of a large city. I can only imagine how some entire states fare.
- nine_k 2y agoI have an unlimited 5G plan in the US, works like a charm, etc. But once I cross an ocean, the connectivity is suddenly very limited, and mobile data is expensive. So, until I buy a local SIM card, or maybe for a few hours of a layover in an airport, is where airport Wi-Fi may be really helpful.
- Marsymars 2y agoTake a look at eSIMs. They're crushingly convenient.
- jayd16 2y agoDoesn't the cell antenna use significantly more power than WiFi?
- Marsymars 2y agoIn theory, yes, in practice, YMMV. I've never found myself in situations where I felt it was specifically worth connecting to Wi-Fi in order to conserve battery life.
- wongarsu 2y agoIn the US signal strengtheners seem to be common in public buildings. But in Europe it's common for big buildings (think convention centers, large multi-story shops, etc) to offer free wifi but have bad cell signal on the inside. Additionally mobile data tends to be expensive, so lots of people in the lower half of the income spectrum will go with a smaller data plan and use free wifi at every opportunity. Which encourages places to offer it to get those people as customers.
- jltsiren 2y agoAnd in some countries, mobile data is cheap and available almost everywhere. Many people don't connect their phones to a WiFi in their daily life. Which may then become a huge security issue, as the phone may not download software updates on mobile data with default settings, under the false assumption that mobile data is expensive.