No Need to Bypass Captive Portal Pages: Sign In to Public Wi-Fi with Speedify Running

Do You Really Need to Bypass Captive Portal?

Read more on whether you really need to bypass a portal, and what happens when a VPN is running.

How to Get Past a Wi-Fi Login Page Without Bypassing It

The reliable way past a Wi-Fi login page is to complete it: accept the terms, or enter the room number, code or email address the network asks for. If the page does not appear, turn off any other VPN or private DNS setting, forget the network and join it again, then open a plain http:// website (not https) in your browser, which makes the network redirect you to its sign-in page. On Android, you can also tap the sign-in notification that appears when you join the network.

Tricks that skip the sign-in page altogether usually break the network’s terms of use, and many networks block them. Speedify’s Captive Portal Assist, covered below, lets you sign in without turning off your encryption.

Bypassing Captive Portals While Using a VPN

When you’re out and there’s a free Wi-Fi hotspot nearby, you can always connect to it. But using public Wi-Fi can be a risky thing, especially if you’re doing business activities on it. When a public Wi-Fi network uses a captive portal (a “login” page), the risk can be higher, because captive portals and most VPNs do not work well together: with most VPNs you have to disconnect, open the Wi-Fi login page and then turn the VPN on again. Whenever the VPN is off while you’re connected to public Wi-Fi, you may be exposed to:

• Malware installation: a hacker can inject a code snippet in your device to infect it with malware. Criminals may want to intercept your data. Malware generators can install anything from a keylogger to ransomware in your device.
• Man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack: the hacker sits between the user and the server and reads everything that’s being transmitted. This is like eavesdropping where a third person can see all your activities without you knowing about their presence.
• Snooping / sniffing: again, a hacker can eavesdrop on your connection. However, it’s different than an MITM attack since the attacker doesn’t sit in the middle. Instead, they use special devices and software to snoop on the conversation.
• Malicious Wi-Fi networks: there are chances that a hacker might have hacked the Wi-Fi of your local café. There can also be instances that Wi-Fi is set up by a hacker. These honeypot Wi-Fi connections are generally named similar to local cafés or airports so unsuspecting customers will connect to them.

So, what can you do to be able to connect and use a network with a captive portal while running your VPN?

Bypassing Captive Portal Errors While Running a VPN

If you don’t use a VPN with public Wi-Fi networks, at least consider taking these steps to be less exposed:

• Don’t allow your device to auto-connect to open Wi-Fi networks.
• Don’t enter passwords or personal details on http websites. Use https websites, as they are more secure.
• Log out of all account once you’re done using them.

Without any doubt, the best way to keep your information safe while accessing a public Wi-Fi is to use a VPN. A VPN encrypts your data so if there is someone monitoring the network, they won’t be able to read the information you’re sending.  However, there are two problems with most VPNs:

• they need to be disconnected while accessing the captive portals (Wi-Fi login pages), otherwise those won’t work.
• most VPNs make the connection slower. And since public Wi-Fi networks are generally pretty slow, using a VPN with them becomes difficult.

How Speedify Handles Captive Portals with Captive Portal Assist

Speedify’s Captive Portal Assist feature handles sign-in pages like this:

• when it detects a captive portal, it automatically moves the traffic to and from the captive portal login page outside of the encrypted VPN tunnel
• once you successfully log onto the network, Speedify moves that direct traffic back to the VPN tunnel
• you can always use the split tunneling feature (Bypass) for specific services, which sends traffic to and from those services outside the encrypted tunnel.

When you join a Wi-Fi hotspot with a captive portal, you don’t have to disconnect Speedify, leave yourself exposed or bypass the captive portal:

1. Speedify will show you a notification asking you if you want to login.
2. In the meantime, your other ongoing online activities (like Microsoft Teams or Slack calls, streaming, gaming) will continue to work via the cellular connection, protected by Speedify
3. If you click the notification (or the message in the app), Speedify will pop up the login screen in a window.
4. After you log in, Speedify starts using the Wi-Fi connection as well.

Besides combining internet connections, Speedify also encrypts your data and sends it through one of its speed servers, so your traffic stays private on public Wi-Fi.

To use public Wi-Fi with captive portals without switching off your encryption first, get Speedify.

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