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ATV4 at Motel 6
- Thread starter Badrottie
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When one buys too many Apple devices, one's hotel budget takes a hit.Motel 6??? ewww......you own an Apple device. upgrade please.
I'm surprised to hear that. Most hotels I visit require the guests to first log in using a web browser before the Internet access is enabled. How do you get around that with an Apple TV? The only solution I can think of is to use one of those small travel routers.
BTW, the Roku has a special authentication mode for such cases.
For whatever reason, I have never had to authenticate my AppleTV, even though I did have to for everything else. Maybe the AppleTV is grabbing the authentication from my iPhone?
Last weekend I was trying to escape Arizona-like weather so I stay at Motel 6 for the first time. I hooked up with Apple TV and everything is almost ok but the wifi does not work because it requires web browser before the internet access is enabled. Oh well it sucks. But the screen saver is so awesome.
Its my experience traveling with an ATV4 that if I can get the hotel to manually add my WiFi address located in Settings to their system via their ISP I am good. But you have to get to the hotel IT guy to do this and some hotels "don't have that guy"...
Yes, Roku and I believe Amazon FireStick/TV have a way to essentially have that splash screen come up so you can enter you room number/name as you would do on your computer, phone or tablet.
Its interesting that you were able to "get on" by just plugging it in and joining the network in some hotels. I travel all around the world and its a pain to get the above done sometimes...
A bit off topic but I also travel with a FireStick with Kodi. I have DISH network at home and there is a new Dish Anywhere app available on the FireStick that is amazing. Thru the internet, it accesses my Hopper 3 DVR box at home and with even a fair internet connection in a hotel, I can now watch every single channel I have at home and all DVR'ed programs. And the lag time when changing channels is essentially the same as home. I was in the UK recently watching whatever I wanted to so easily it was funny. There is NO REASON that my ATV4 can't have this killer app that the freaking Firestick has...Its a DISH Network thing so I have complained to them to make an Dish Anywhere app for ATV4...
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
When one buys too many Apple devices, one's hotel budget takes a hit.
And the one kidney they keep has to do the work of two for the rest of their days.
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Side load to Firestick or readily available app anyone can install? I can't find anything on this other than side load info. I might buy a Firestick just for this if it is a straight-forward install. Nevermind, found it: https://www.dish.com/dig/news/stream-dish-anywhere-amazons-fire-tv/ Wow. I wish it was on
TV but will probably get a Firestick now just for this one app.And DISH Anywhere does work GREAT on iOS devices so I too would love to see them roll it out for
TV. Since iOS and tvOS is so closely related, I can't believe the migration is a very difficult thing to do... probably just DISH wanting to keep them box leases instead of potentially losing some of that revenue to TV + Dish Anywhere.
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And the one kidney they keep has to do the work of two for the rest of their days.
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Side load to Firestick or readily available app anyone can install? I can't find anything on this other than side load info. I might buy a Firestick just for this if it is a straight-forward install. Nevermind, found it: https://www.dish.com/dig/news/stream-dish-anywhere-amazons-fire-tv/ Wow. I wish it was on
And DISH Anywhere does work GREAT on iOS devices so I too would love to see them roll it out for
A friend gave me the Firestick, I will leave it at that on this forum...
Dish just has to write the app for ATV4. If they have one for Firestick it should not matter.
The problem of people sending back boxes and using ATV4 or Firesticks instead is that you can only have ONE STREAM per Hopper. Since most homes have only one actual Hopper now, I could only maybe lose say the box in the guest BR. But if I was traveling and someone was using say a Firestick to stream in the guest BR, I am out of luck...
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Thanks for the info. One more question: does it work well via Firestick? Much crashing? Freezes? Any big gripes about the utility of it in lieu of a dedicated DISH STB box? In other words, other than the "1 stream" hassle, is it pretty effective as a DISH STB substitute?
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I do this & it works well.
You may have to call front desk to get provider.
Connect Apple TV to Hotel WiFi
Apple TV 4
There are two main things you have to know:
1. What is the MAC address of the Apple TV that you own. Though pronounced the same as Mac, it refers to an industry standard of identinfying a specific device. It stands for Media Access Control.
2. Who is the provider that the hotel is using.
TO FIND THE MAC ADDRESS:
This can be done before you pack your Apple TV and leave your house.
1. Connect your Apple TV to the TV... turn both on... blah blah blah... Apple TV is displayed on the TV
2. Go to Settings > General > About
3. The MAC address is labeled as "Wi-Fi Address" in this situation. It will be a set of 6 pairs of alphanumeric characters, each pair separated by a colon. For example... 00:11:22:cc:bb:aa (they'll look more random than this, but I didn't want to take a chance on posting someone's real MAC address)
4. Write down that address. This is NOT CASE SENSITIVE.
THE HOTEL'S SERVICE PROVIDER
The service provider's information will typicaly be right in the hotel room because there is no reason for hotel staff to have to troubleshoot this stuff for us.
1. Call the support number and follow their prompts to get to a support agent.
2. Say, "Hello! I have an Apple TV, and I understand I can connect to your service by registering the MAC address with your service."
3. They will ask you several questions to verify that you are staying at one of the hotels they service.
4. Follow their instructions for registering the MAC address
5. On your Apple TV, go to Settings > General > Network > Wi-Fi, and select the hotel's Wi-Fi.
6. Voila! CONNECTED and Ready to Go!!!
Two things:
I made a label with the WiFi addy of my ATV4 and stuck it on the top of the ATV4. I also took a photo of it on my phone so its very handy when needed.
Also, when talking to the hotel ISP or the hotel IT person getting your WiFi addy added to the system, the big question they always ask or need to know is HOW MANY DAYS TO ADD THE ADDY FOR. This answer needs to be accurate or else your ATV4 will "fall out" of the system before your checkout...
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When using it recently in the UK, both in hotel and private home, there was the occasional freeze. More in the hotel which I took to mean that the hotel internet was a bit dodgy at times. But when it did work, which was 99% of the time it was snappy and almost just like home. In a private home setting in UK with a 40 down and 10 up connection, it was really great. Including the PQ on a new LG YeeVee...
I might lose the guest BR Joey to save dough... I would much prefer to use an ATV4 than a FS though. Perhaps another strongly worded letter to DISH!!!
I travel with a 1rst generation FireStick. Works great, and I regularly use their TIVO app to watch my home tvs. The only time I had an issue was when my remote went wonky. Taking the batteries out and placing them back in solved the problem. (I won't tell you how long it took me to figure it out.) It fires up to a "gated portal." That's a fancy way of saying the hotel's initial start-up web page to register your device (insert name/room) before continuing.
I only traveled once with an AppleTV. Didn't bring my remote, and it was game over. The iphone app didn't work (at that time) as I couldn't register it to the AppleTV. System enhancements may have changed that.
Somewhere there is a punchline to that question that I a missing lol!
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I usually travel with an ATV2 and an Airport Exresss. Along with my MacBook it is easy t0 set up your own network for the ATV to use.
If there is ethernet, I plug that into the MacBook and share the connection via Wifi using the "sharing" setting under system preferences. Share connection "ethernet" to "wifi" - you make your own sub-network with your own network name and password.
If there is no ethernet, I log on to the hotel's wifi from my MacBook, plug my Airport Express into it, then share "wifi" to "airport express" - again with your own sub-network name and password.
If there is ethernet, I plug that into the MacBook and share the connection via Wifi using the "sharing" setting under system preferences. Share connection "ethernet" to "wifi" - you make your own sub-network with your own network name and password.
If there is no ethernet, I log on to the hotel's wifi from my MacBook, plug my Airport Express into it, then share "wifi" to "airport express" - again with your own sub-network name and password.
I'm glad this works for you. My experience has been the Ethernet speeds at the hotels I stay at are actually significantly slower than the wifi speeds. I know that's completely non-intuitive and i wish I could give you a logical explanation. I use both FAST and Speedtest (although ISP's enhance speeds for these tests.)
On the positive side I've stayed at a hotel in Boston that has some sort of virtual appletv or an appletv in every room. You have to pass your room credentials to use it.
Motel 6??? ewww......you own an Apple device. upgrade please.
NO way. They accept pets without a fee and their shower water pressure is great.
Excellent for personal trips.
In the hotels I have stayed in recently, the Ethernet is mostly now disconnected in favor of WiFi exclusively. If there is a a Ethernet cable in the desk drawer for example, I do try it on my MBP and do the speedtest.net on it. Sometimes its exactly the same, sometimes slower and sometimes faster. I then just use the fastest way... Obvoiusly if you only have a FireStick and not a Fire TV (which has a Ethernet port) you have to have WiFi...
But 80% of the time its WiFi only, IMHO, the whole wired internet thing is going the way of Fax Machines and and even pay per view films in hotels, that is bye bye see ya..
For some reason, mine did not just simply work this time. However, I followed the procedure above and it is now connected just fine.
Would it work if you connected your iPhone to the hotel wifi and then create an iPhone hotspot to connect to? I'm going away for work next week, and will likely face this issue - the hotspot was my plan to get around it.