Table of Contents


Products Covered

  • All Pepwave Products with WiFi-As-WAN Capabilities

Summary

This article will cover how to connect your Peplink Mobile Router to a Public WiFi or Campground WiFi network that has a login screen such as those at Starbucks and many campgrounds especially any with paid WiFi service. Note that not all campground WiFi has a login screen. We recommend viewing our basic article and video first before moving on to this more advanced article specific to WiFi networks with a login screen: Connection to an external Wifi source with Wifi-as-WAN.


WiFi networks with a login screen will prevent use of the internet until you accept terms, pay a fee, enter a password or follow additional instructions. As such, your Peplink mobile router will bypass these WiFi networks failing over to your cellular connection which can cause confusion as to how to get your modem connected. This article will show you how to get the login screen to appear so you can login to the WiFi network and utilize with your Peplink. Follow the steps below to connect. 


Pop up screens that allow you to login to campground WiFi are known as "Captive Portals" in the IT industry. If you see that term used, it refers to the pop up screen that allows you to login.


Video Summary

Below is a video summary of how to connect to WIFI that has a login screen. Below that are detailed written instructions. 



Step 1 - Enable WiFi-As-WAN and Connect to WiFi


Enable WiFi-As-Wan


In the examples below we are utilizing a Pepwave Max Transit DUO with dual modems however the steps for a single modem device are very similar yet your admin screens may differ slightly.

Connect your computer to your Peplink router's wifi. Do not connect your device directly to the campground wifi. If you do this you will not be able to access your Peplink dashboard in the next steps. 


Visit your Peplink dashboard at http://192.168.50.1 and enable WiFi-As-Wan by dragging the slide up to Priority 1. Please note, if you have the Max BR1 Mini HW3, you will have needed to purchase the Advanced Feature Pack to connect to a wifi-as-WAN source. You can drag the connection from its current state by clicking the bumps to the left of the connection name which will enable the drag slider. You will see a hand appear as the cursor and hold the primary mouse button and drag the connection to priority 1 as shown in the screenshot below. You can drag the 2.4Ghz and/or the 5Ghz WiFi-As-Wan sliders to primary however we recommend adding one at a time. 2.4Ghz typically has longer range and higher compatibility so we recommend starting with 2.4Ghz. See screenshot. 



Connect to Public WiFi


Never connect to a WiFi network you do not recognize or that does not match the name provided by a campground. If you must, use a VPN solution to protect your browsing such as NordVPN or ExpressVPN.



Once you have dragged the WiFi-As-WAN connection to Priority 1 it will begin scanning for networks. Wait 30 seconds to allow the Peplink to scan local networks. Then select the "Wireless Networks" button to bring up the wireless network list. See screenshot below. 



Click "Connect" next to the name of the network you wish to connect to. If the network is Open (no password required) simply click save at the next dialog. If the network has a password, enter it on the next screen and take special care to type the password properly and remember the passwords are case sensitive.



It may take up to 1 minute for the Pepwave to connect to the WiFi as it tests the connection and attempts to negotiate a connection. Note that not all WiFi networks are compatible with each other and this unfortunately is just a fact of life when connecting two wireless devices together. Most networks connect without issue. Give it time and it should connect and will display connected as shown below. 


Prompt WiFi Login Screen 

Now that you are connected to the WiFi you might think that you are all set right? Unfortunately, no and this is where many people get stuck. The Peplink is connected to the WiFi however the provider of the WiFi will block traffic until you get past the login screen. This means your Peplink will continue using the cellular connections until you get past the WiFi login screens. 


To prompt the login screen that will allow you to connect to the WiFi you must disable all other internet WAN sources. In this example we will drag our cellular modems to disabled leaving only the wifi connected in Priority 1 as shown in the screenshot below. 


Next open your internet browser such as chrome, safari, edge etc and try to go to HTTP://httpforever.com. This should prompt the campground wifi to redirect you to the login screen. This website was build specifically to get logins screens to come up. It may take up to 1 minute for the screen to pop up and you may need to try multiple times but it will eventually pop up. If it does not pop up reboot your computer, ensure it is connected to the Pepwave WiFi and open a browser again. Hitting the refresh key (F5 in many browsers) may also help force the screen to prompt. In rare cases some login screens will not prompt on all browsers. If this happens check the instructions provided by the WiFi provider such as the campground as they may have the URL which you can enter manually. 


Once the login screen pops up, verify it appears to be the correct provider and follow the prompts to connect. In the examples screenshots below we are connecting to campground WiFi using the password they provided at check-in. 



Congratulations you are now connected to campground WiFi via your Peplink mobile router. You may receive a confirmation that you are connected like the one below. From here you may test the internet by visiting google.com and doing a web search. 


Re-enabling Cellular Connections

Now that your WiFi is connected we recommend you re-enable your cellular connection(s). To save on cellular bandwidth you may wish to put your cellular connections in Priority 2 rather than Priority 1. If you put your connections in Priority 1 your devices will load balance the WiFi and cellular connections sending some traffic out the cellular and some out the WiFi also known as "load balancing". If you wish to save cellular bandwidth but still use cellular if the WiFi connection fails you can move your cellular connection(s) to Priority 2 like shown below. Setting your WAN priorities are personal preference. 


Requesting Assistance

If you feel you are not getting anywhere or there is another issue you can always reach out to our team directly by initiating a ticket here on the support portal or by emailing [email protected]


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