Depending on where you live, there are tons of places that offer free wifi connections so you can work or study remotely, or avoid cutting into your data limits on your smartphone. However, some public networks are pretty annoying about the connection process, with all sorts of interstitial login pages getting between you and that sweet wireless networking.
A number of these public wifi networks require users to log in with an email or other credentials, watch ads, and/or agree to usage restrictions before accessing the internet—even after they’ve already successfully connected. It’s a tedious extra step, but it’s even worse when these login pages won’t show up in the first place. You might be connected to a wifi network, but you might as well have turned your device off for all the bits and bytes you’ll be receiving.
Thankfully, you have a few tricks to force-start the process when these login pages won’t load.
Restart your device or wifi settings
The first and simplest suggestion we have is to restart your device. If you don’t want to do a full restart, turning your device’s wifi on and off may also work. Once you’ve done either (or both), try reconnecting to the wireless network and pulling up a website to begin the cumbersome login process.
Redirect to the login page
If that doesn’t work, the next step is to try forcing the router’s default login page to load, and there are a few web addresses that could redirect you to the router’s login page. Pull up your web browser while connected to the wifi network and type in routerlogin.net, one of the most common options. And if that doesn’t work, try these:
http://localhost
Example.com
8.8.8.8
neverssl.com
Captive.apple.com
If neither of the above methods seem to work, check the following settings, then try again:
Clear your web browser cache. This can usually be done from your browser’s history menu.
Temporarily turn off any alternate DNS servers you’re using and switch back to the defaults.
Updated 3/4/22 with new details.