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Safari Won't work in Hotel

M

martinmartin

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 5, 2007
435
1
I'm in Shanghai at the moment and the internet in my hotel isn't working with Safari (or Firefox, etc.).

It's connected via ethernet to a modem and it's supposed to automatically direct you to a login page where you click 'accept to pay' and then you are connected.

It worked the very first night, but not since then (5+ days).

I've had 3 people from the 'business center' try to fix it and they haven't made any progress.

Funny thing is, I have Windows installed (via Parallels) and Internet Explorer works every time...

Any ideas how to get this working in OSX?

Cheers
 
I think you're just going to have to live with using IE to do the connection, unless you can persuade the hotel to get it to work on the login page with Firefox.
 
Does Firefox also work under Parallels?
If not it would seem as if the whole login process is IE only… which in China doesn't surprise me — very MS Windows centric.
If I take my MacBook out it seems to some people as if an alien craft has landed… :eek:
 
I only have Firefox on OSX, not Windows.

The strange thing is, Safari [in OSX] worked the very first night...then it didn't work thereafter.

I wouldn't much care except all of my email is on the Mac side (in Entourage).

I've played with Network Preferences, Renewing DHCP, etc, to no avail.

If it hadn't worked the first day, I would have given up, but since it did, I know it's possible...

Note - when I say Safari, I'm only referring to the OSX side.

Cheers.
 
If you use the Parallels side to log in with IE doesn't the OS X side then have access to the connection?
I mean to say surely the connection isn't dependent on the browser once past the login stage.
 
Eraserhead said:
Try installing Firefox on Windows and see if that works.
Click to expand...

Would this help me on the OSX side?

arkitect said:
If you use the Parallels side to log in with IE doesn't the OS X side then have access to the connection?
I mean to say surely the connection isn't dependent on the browser once past the login stage.
Click to expand...

I agree...but it just gives me the 'You are not connected to the internet' page...
 
Eraserhead said:
Try installing Firefox on Windows and see if that works.
Click to expand...
martinmartin said:
Would this help me on the OSX side?
Click to expand...
It would narrow down the search and reveal if it was an IE only login system or summit else. :)

martinmartin said:
I agree...but it just give me the 'You are not connected to the internet' page...
Click to expand...
Have you checked the Parallels settings? If there is an internet connection there it is available to both sides… unless you have it disabled somehow.
 
arkitect said:
It would narrow down the search and reveal if it was an IE only login system or summit else. :)


Have you checked the Parallels settings? If there is an internet connection there it is available to both sides… unless you have it disabled somehow.
Click to expand...

Safari worked the first night, so I know its not an IE only login system.

As far as parallels preferences, I have 'Enable DHCP scope for shared networking' checked...
 
You can use Safari to "trick" the system that you are using Internet Explorer.

Go to Safari preferences Advanced tab and click on "Show Develop menu on menu bar".

Once the Develop Menu is available on the Menu Bar, go to User Agent and choose one of the Internet Explorer options available for you.

Hope this gets it going for you.
 
juro said:
You can use Safari to "trick" the system that you are using Internet Explorer.

Go to Safari preferences Advanced tab and click on "Show Develop menu on menu bar".

Once the Develop Menu is available on the Menu Bar, go to User Agent and choose one of the Internet Explorer options available for you.

Hope this gets it going for you.
Click to expand...

Are we sure whether this is the site blocking any other browser, or whether any other browser doesn't know how to display it?
 
KingYaba said:
Bolded emphasis is my doing.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I obviously didn't catch that. :eek:

When I was traveling in Germany last summer and dealt with hotel paid Internet, most of them were very specific about only allowing access to one device (unless I picked a plan that cost more for multiple-device access).

If Parallels on the OPs machine is setup to use the network in bridged mode (allowing it to connect directly to the physical network), then the Parallels machine is going to look like a physically different machine than the Mac (i.e. different mac addresses).

If the Internet provider doesn't allow multiple computers to use the same paid session, that could be problematic.
 
aristobrat said:
Thanks, I obviously didn't catch that. :eek:

When I was traveling in Germany last summer and dealt with hotel paid Internet, most of them were very specific about only allowing access to one device (unless I picked a plan that cost more for multiple-device access).

If Parallels on the OPs machine is setup to use the network in bridged mode (allowing it to connect directly to the physical network), then the Parallels machine is going to look like a physically different machine than the Mac (i.e. different mac addresses).

If the Internet provider doesn't allow multiple computers to use the same paid session, that could be problematic.
Click to expand...

You might be on to something - check out my preferences for Parallels in the attachment below. Maybe I should try deselecting 'Enabled' and see what happens then. Maybe Parallels is somehow 'grabbing' the connection first and taking priority.

See attachment for my Network Preferences. (This screenshot was taken at the office where I'm using wi-fi and everything is working fine). When I'm at the hotel, Parallels NAT and Parallels Guest are connected correctly, but Ethernet, while connected, doesn't have a valid IP address.

juro said:
You can use Safari to "trick" the system that you are using Internet Explorer.

Go to Safari preferences Advanced tab and click on "Show Develop menu on menu bar".

Once the Develop Menu is available on the Menu Bar, go to User Agent and choose one of the Internet Explorer options available for you.

Hope this gets it going for you.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll give this a shot too.
 

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Since it worked the first night, is there a cookie on your system that isn't being reset? I'd try to find the browser cookie and delete it.
 
Divindude said:
Since it worked the first night, is there a cookie on your system that isn't being reset? I'd try to find the browser cookie and delete it.
Click to expand...

That's a good suggestion - unfortunately I have thousands of cookies and don't want to delete them all. I'm not sure what the site would be called or how to find it to just delete the 1 cookie... I wish they were listed in order of last visited.

boast said:
firefox is set to autodetect proxy settings?
Click to expand...

I tried this - no dice...
 
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