Does Boingo actually work at all?
Jun 1, 2018 | 2:58 am
#16
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Lisbon
Programs: Marriott Bonvoy Titanium, IHG Platinum, BAEC Silver, TK Miles & Smiles Elite
Posts: 2,521
In case anyone is interested in my experiences with Boingo so far. I download the app to my iPhone and there's some additional configuration profile you can download called Passpoint Secure. Anyway, I'm now highly irritated that I hadn't done this before.
HK: I've been paying ~HK$40 a day to China Mobile (China) to roam in HK and they still block all the useful web sites. Boingo connects at stations, on the bus to the airport, at numerous hotspots around the city. I don't need data roaming any more there. I'm delighted.
Was also in Jo'burg this week for four days and similarly found numerous hotspots that would connect in shopping centres, hotels etc.
I'm quite impressed with this. The coverage (provided by partners) seems good and I didn't have difficulty either connecting and authenticating automatically or locating a compatible hotspot. They highlight themselves in the list of wifi hotspots after a few seconds and you just choose one.
I will now try it around Shenzhen and see if all the internet access restrictions are in place when on Boingo wifi. Probably are.
HK: I've been paying ~HK$40 a day to China Mobile (China) to roam in HK and they still block all the useful web sites. Boingo connects at stations, on the bus to the airport, at numerous hotspots around the city. I don't need data roaming any more there. I'm delighted.
Was also in Jo'burg this week for four days and similarly found numerous hotspots that would connect in shopping centres, hotels etc.
I'm quite impressed with this. The coverage (provided by partners) seems good and I didn't have difficulty either connecting and authenticating automatically or locating a compatible hotspot. They highlight themselves in the list of wifi hotspots after a few seconds and you just choose one.
I will now try it around Shenzhen and see if all the internet access restrictions are in place when on Boingo wifi. Probably are.
Jun 27, 2018 | 5:58 am
#18
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Lisbon
Programs: Marriott Bonvoy Titanium, IHG Platinum, BAEC Silver, TK Miles & Smiles Elite
Posts: 2,521
I take back my praise for Boingo. I have just, on the advice of its own support, uninstalled the app and its profile thing off my iPhone.
To put it simply... the Boingo app kills your ability to log into other WiFi hotspots at hotels etc.iOS is poor at the best of times in kicking over to the hotel login page where you enter your room number and surname. But once youve got the Boingo app this becomes impossible..It incorrectly identifies such hotel (and similar) WiFi networks as being Boingo networks in your WiFi list and of course the app cannot log you in because its not a Boingo network and its expecting your room number and surname.Having failed to log you in with the app, you are the unable to bring up the hotel login page manually (I tried, I tried so many ways) and so you cannot use WiFi at all after youve installed this Boingo app.I assume this is a particular feature of the app not interacting with iOS nicely but as I say iOS has always been flaky at bringing up the login page (which iOS insists on doing outside a browser environment) in ideal situations but Boingo kills any change of using hotel WiFi. I brought this up with Boingo support and they told me to uninstall the app. So they know about it and are not rewriting their app to fix it. So gone it is.
Jun 27, 2018 | 8:14 am
#19
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Long Island, NY
Programs: Marriott Titanium Elite/Lifetime Titanium, Delta Platinum Medallion, Hertz #1 Gold
Posts: 752
I take back my praise for Boingo. I have just, on the advice of its own support, uninstalled the app and its profile thing off my iPhone.
To put it simply... the Boingo app kills your ability to log into other WiFi hotspots at hotels etc.iOS is poor at the best of times in kicking over to the hotel login page where you enter your room number and surname. But once youve got the Boingo app this becomes impossible..It incorrectly identifies such hotel (and similar) WiFi networks as being Boingo networks in your WiFi list and of course the app cannot log you in because its not a Boingo network and its expecting your room number and surname.Having failed to log you in with the app, you are the unable to bring up the hotel login page manually (I tried, I tried so many ways) and so you cannot use WiFi at all after youve installed this Boingo app.I assume this is a particular feature of the app not interacting with iOS nicely but as I say iOS has always been flaky at bringing up the login page (which iOS insists on doing outside a browser environment) in ideal situations but Boingo kills any change of using hotel WiFi. I brought this up with Boingo support and they told me to uninstall the app. So they know about it and are not rewriting their app to fix it. So gone it is.
I was staying at a hotel in Australia that somehow was on the Boingo Hotspot. Instead of trying to let me authenticate, the boingo app was interfering. Boingo ended up suspending my account for 30 days, which is when I realized how bad their app sucked.
Jun 27, 2018 | 12:39 pm
#20
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Menlo Park, CA, USA
Programs: UA 1MM 0P, AA, DL, *wood, Lifetime FPC Plat., IHG, HHD
Posts: 7,180
Jul 9, 2018 | 4:33 pm
#21
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Lisbon
Programs: Marriott Bonvoy Titanium, IHG Platinum, BAEC Silver, TK Miles & Smiles Elite
Posts: 2,521
So, now I've lost my ability to use Boingo in Hong Kong. Previously, the malware app would log me into a CSL wifi hotspot automatically.
However, without the app the CSL wifi hotspot has no option that I could find to log in as a Boingo user.
Unless there's somebody here who can tell me exactly where to log in on the wifi hotspot landing page? The nearest I got was a "Roaming and Others" menu dropdown that did not list Boingo as an option. I found no mention of Boingo anywhere on the wifi landing page.
However, without the app the CSL wifi hotspot has no option that I could find to log in as a Boingo user.
Unless there's somebody here who can tell me exactly where to log in on the wifi hotspot landing page? The nearest I got was a "Roaming and Others" menu dropdown that did not list Boingo as an option. I found no mention of Boingo anywhere on the wifi landing page.