What should I do if my hotel WiFi is stuck as a PPT? I rescued them according to three routes. I always have these items in my business trip bag.

I stayed in Hangzhou for four days in mid-October, and I bumped into someone on the first night: The WiFi in the room is full, and WeChat messages are received instantly. As soon as the video conference is started, it freezes in PPT. The video cast on the screen and rotated in circles makes me feel chilled. When I called the front desk to ask, they politely replied, "Our network is normal, other guests have not reported it." I didn't give up, and spent the whole night in the room with my notebook, figuring out the problem clearly, and held the meeting as usual the next day.

This isn't the first time I've struggled with the Internet at a hotel. I have saved money from business trips over the past few years, and I already have a set process.: Spend five minutes to determine which floor you are stuck on, and then choose a rescue route based on the room conditions. This article describes the whole set of things. If you often travel on business, prepare a bag accordingly, so you don’t have to stare when you encounter a bad network.

Find out first: Hotel WiFi card, the card is often not a "signal"」

Full grid but stuck, this is a typical disease of the hotel network. The number of signal bars only indicates that you are close to the AP, but does not indicate whether the network is reachable. The structure of the hotel network is generally like this: One floor or several floors share one exit, and the traffic of dozens of rooms all goes out through that broadband. Everyone goes to work during the day and the network is empty ； At night, everyone goes back to their rooms to watch videos and make video calls, and the exit pipe is blocked. Behind the full WiFi on your phone is a water pipe full of people.

There is also a more hidden one: The network port in the room actually connects to an independent wired network and is not the same outlet as the public WiFi at all. This was the case in my hotel in Hangzhou - I plugged my laptop directly into the wall port in the room to measure the speed. The wired speed was over 280 Mbit/s, the WiFi measured 18 Mbit/s, and even dropped to single digits during the evening rush hour. One room, two layers of networks, two worlds. Therefore, the first step is always to test the room network port first. The wired number is the bottom line of the hotel network.

Pay attention to details when taking the test: Don’t use the old network cable that was given to you in the hotel drawer. I once encountered a problem when plugging in a cable, and the contacts on the crystal head were oxidized and blackened. When I changed the cable, the speed was full. The speed test tool is to use the speed test App on your mobile phone or computer to measure the same server three times in a row and take the middle value. The number of each time is not counted.

Route A: There is a network port in the room, and the portable router can be plugged directly into it, which is the most stable option.

I always have a Xiaomi AX3000T stuffed in my business trip bag, just for this purpose. One cable connects the network port on the wall of the room to the WAN port of the router. The router sends me my own WiFi name, and my phone, tablet, and laptop are all connected to it. The advantage of this is not that it is fast, but that it avoids the crowded atmosphere of public WiFi - the wired port is directly connected to the network in the room, and the traffic jam on the wireless side of the hotel has nothing to do with you.

There are only a few steps in operation. Power on the router and plug it in, wait two minutes for the WAN port to get the IP, and then your phone can be connected to your home WiFi. The only thing that will get stuck is Portal authentication, which will be discussed separately below. I stepped through a pit for you: Remember to select "Automatically obtain (DHCP)" for the router's Internet access method. Don't use the PPPoE dial-up settings at home. The hotel network port uses a dynamic IP, and the dial-up method will always fail to connect. How to choose between the three Internet access methods and where to change their respective backends? I'm here How to choose the router’s Internet access method I wrote in it, check it before packing it before going out.

There is another hidden benefit: All the devices in the house are connected to your own WiFi. If the name and password are the same as those at home, your laptop and tablet will be automatically connected, eliminating the need for reconfiguration. The premise is that the SSID and password are the same as those set at home. The one in my bag is copied from home. If you find it troublesome to bring a router, there is another lightweight option, which is discussed below.

Route B: There is no network port in the room, so WDS bridge is used to "connect" the hotel's network.

Old hotels, B&Bs, and fast hotels often have only one WiFi in the entire room but no network port. In this case, use the WDS wireless bridging of the router.: Leave the router unplugged, scan the hotel's SSID to connect to it, and then send your own WiFi out. It sounds unnecessary, but it actually has two uses.: The first is to connect all the devices with weak signals in your room to the router. The antenna of the router is stronger than that of the mobile phone, and its ability to absorb signals is much better. ； Second, multiple devices only occupy one connection slot of the hotel network, and authentication is only done once.

There is a point in choosing a frequency band for bridging. Hotel WiFi often has two names: 2.4G and 5G. For bridging, choose the 2.4G one. It’s not that 2.4G is fast, it’s that it’s stable: 5G wall penetration is poor. If your room is far away from the AP, the 5G connection will be intermittent and the bridge will be dropped. Once the bridge is lost, the router's management IP will change, and you will have to configure it all over again. My suggestion is to save a screenshot of the management IP in your phone before configuring the bridge and entering the router's backend, so that you can look it up at any time if you lose it.

The pitfall in this road lies in authentication and reconfiguration. When connecting to the Portal for the first time, a pop-up pops up. Enter the room number and password to pass the authentication. ； If the hotel network shakes and is disconnected during the process, the authentication status of some hotels will be lost. Your phone will appear to be connected to your home WiFi but there is no network. You have to enter the router's background to trigger authentication again. Reconfiguration takes about five minutes, not complicated but annoying. Therefore, my positioning of this route is "make do when there is no network port". If it can be used, don't expect to experience it.

An unavoidable hurdle: What should I do if the Portal authentication page does not pop up?

The hotel WiFi is connected, but the authentication page does not pop up. The browser keeps spinning on any website I open. This is the level where most people get stuck. To put it bluntly, it's worthless: The hotel gateway hijacks your HTTP request to the authentication page, but mobile browsers now use HTTPS by default. If it cannot be hijacked, the page will not pop up. The solution is crude: Manually enter a pure HTTP address, such as 1.1.1.1 or neverssl.com , as soon as the browser makes a request, the gateway immediately slaps the authentication page in your face, and you just need to enter your room number and password to pass.

If you use a portable router, there is an advanced way to play this level.: Router's WAN port MAC clone. Some hotels bind authentication to the first connected device. If you change the router and plug it in, it will think it is a new device and will not recognize the authentication status, so you have to go through the Portal again. The WAN port MAC is cloned into the MAC of the laptop you have authenticated before. The hotel gateway sees it as an "old acquaintance" and lets it go directly. Where can I change the MAC clone? I am here I got a new phone and couldn’t dial the number. I used cloning to save it. I have written down the locations of several brands here, and setting them up before departure can save trouble.

By the way, a reminder: After the public WiFi is authenticated, you are in a LAN with strangers on the same network. "Trust devices on the same network" functions such as sharing, screencasting, and automatic backup on mobile phones are equivalent to opening the door to your home on the hotel network. When connected to the hotel WiFi, I will manually turn off Network Discovery on my computer and automatic backup on my phone. This habit is valuable.

Route C: Mobile phone hotspot, 0 yuan emergency, but don’t use it to carry it for a few days

Everyone knows how to use mobile phone hotspots. If you don’t start the operation, you need to start the account. The hotspot uses the universal traffic of your mobile phone card. First check how much universal traffic is left in the package - many dozens of gigabytes of multi-person packages are targeted traffic, and the hotspot cannot be used at all, and money will be deducted as soon as it is turned on. There is also an upper limit on the number of connections. I actually measured that when a mobile phone hotspot is connected to the sixth device, the device starts to disconnect repeatedly, and the limit is eight devices. It's enough to bring a laptop and tablet when traveling alone. ； The whole family goes out with one person and two devices, and the hotspot cannot withstand it.

There's also a cost in the phone itself. When the hotspot is turned on, the phone becomes as hot as a hand warmer. It is common for the battery to go red from being full in the morning to noon. Carrying a main phone for several days will damage the battery and strain your patience. My cousin rented a house last year and used a hotspot for three months without broadband. According to the calculation, the traffic fee was enough to provide broadband for half a year. People are really suffering. I am using this account. The article about using mobile phone hotspot as broadband The details have been calculated. in conclusion: The hot spot is the emergency level of "The Internet is terrible tonight, I will finish the video conference", not a solution that lasts a few days.

Some people will think of portable WiFi at this time and advise them to calm down. I have been using portable WiFi for three months, and the data cards on that thing have false speed limits one after another. It is normal for the speed to fall to single digits during the evening peak hours. You jump from one pit to another. I'm here for this account Portable WiFi article I’ve written down the entire listing. If you want to buy, read it first and then pay. If you really go to nooks and crannies where there is no internet, just insert a large-capacity mobile phone card into a backup machine and turn on the hotspot, which is much more reliable than portable WiFi.

What to pack in your business trip bag: My list of four things

Spread out the items in the bag and you’ll find four items. The whole set is less than 300 yuan. They are all prepared for the hotel network.:

Let’s talk about the power supply of the router separately. The AX3000T is powered by 12V, which is not the same as the 5V used in mobile phone chargers. If you forget to bring the original connector when you go out, the router will be like a brick. So I replaced the multi-port charger with an adjustable one, or simply kept the original charger in my business bag without taking it out, and the probability of forgetting it in the hotel was eliminated.

wrap up: complete judgment sequence

There is something wrong with the network after checking into the hotel. Follow this sequence and you will be able to locate the location within five minutes and rescue it within half an hour.:

The first step is to connect to the hotel WiFi and manually type 1.1.1.1 Passed the certification. The second step is to measure the speed and record the number, then plug the laptop into the network port in the room and test again. Comparing the two numbers will tell whether the card is on the wireless layer or the egress layer. The third step is to go to A to plug in the portable router if there is a wired port. If there is no network port, go to B to bridge. If both are bad, go to C to turn on the hotspot and get down to business. The fourth step is really bad. Call the front desk to give your room number and ask them to restart the AP, or directly use the lobby network downstairs to work - the AP in the lobby is faster when there are fewer people. An experience from the bottom of the box: If you stay in the same city for a long time and go on business trips, going to the business office to apply for a high-traffic card is the only solution. Counting on the hotel website is not as good as counting on the four items in your own bag.