Connect AW to public network servers

The answer right now is no, I live in central Florida and my cable/internet provider (bright house/spectrum) has wifi everywhere in the state of Florida on major streets for its subscribers. So when I leave my house I am basically connected to wifi on the major business streets everywhere I go with my Iphone 7 But unfortunately it can’t connect to public networks that require logins or subscription. In other words, it can’t configure network on its own. If apple can somehow "fix" this it would be a major plus for the AW and who cares about LTE.

 

Just as a FYI, you can configure your computer to spoof the mac address of your Apple Watch, and register on many public wifi systems, and then switch the mac address back to the burned in mac.

On a macbook, this will look something like:
1) Disconnect your macbook from wifi by holding alt and clicking the wifi menuitem.
2) sudo ifconfig en0 |grep ether
^- this will show your burned in mac address for your laptop, save this somewhere
3) sudo ifconfig en0 ether [mac address from your apple watch, grab this from the 'watch-> general -> about -> Wi-Fi Address' on your paired iPhone
4) Connect to the public wifi network, and use your web browser to register.
5) Disconnect from the wifi network like in step 1
6) sudo ifconfig en0 ether [use the mac address you learned from step 2]

I've done this at some hotels, and was able to roam around the whole hotel with my watch connecting to my phone over the wifi, as the phone was left in the room. Unfortunately, I haven't made it work with xfinitywifi yet, and I'm not sure why - but I suspect it's because I have the xfinity wifi profile on my iPhone which doesn't work with the apple watch wifi setup.

 

Don't worry, we just elected Donald Trump. Soon we will be an underdeveloped nation too.

 

I am not worried because he knows more than the generals about Isis....so I am optimistic

 

My provider Xfinity automatically connects to their public wi-fi when it can and so does my watch without my iPhone, I did nothing but enter the credentials on the iPhone. I did a quick trip to 7/11 and did not have phone and received a text and was able to reply to the text. I checked it and had the cloud symbol. Also when walking my dogs I get connected without phone. I spoke with another friend in my area who also has Xfinity and has had the same experience. It does disconnect then reconnect depending on the signal. So it is not as consistent as the iPhone.

 

You don't need your computer to get your MAC address. You can use your settings app on your watch or the watch app on your phone (under settings > info)

 

Anyone have brightouse? Works just like Xfinity by entering credentials but just will not work with my apple watch....sucks

 

I think you completely misunderstood my post.

I was explaining how you can use a computer to register an apple watch onto a wifi network with a captive portal.

 

Bump. Thanks so much for these instructions - they worked perfectly for me. Just used this method to connect my Apple Watch to xfinitywifi, and confirmed a working connection by successfully sending a text from my watch with my iPhone turned off.

This will be very useful for me as I can now leave my phone at home while going on runs but still stay connected through my Apple Watch. Here in Charleston xfinitywifi has very robust coverage and a signal is accessible even from the sidewalk of most streets. Who needs a cellular Apple Watch when you have a city-wide wifi network? Thanks again!