Connected to WiFi or not?

[Eusebius]

Last week I took my iphone for the first time on a trip abroad. In Istanbul the phone showed I was logged onto the airport's free WiFi network: it was checked in the WiFi settings and the menu bar at the top of the screen showed three nice bold waves. But when I wanted Safari to open a web page, Safari notified that it couldn't access the internet. Why not? The phone showed I was logged into the airport's WiFi! This situation -- the phone showing it was logged into a WiFi network, Safari or Mail claiming lack of access to the internet -- happened several times during my stay in Istanbul, yet at other Istanbul locations the phone was able to get through. So what's going on? Is there such a thing as a WiFi network, like the Istanbul airport's, without internet access? What would be the point of that? Or does the iphone have problems accessing certain networks?

 

[JamesMB]

So what's going on? Is there such a thing as a WiFi network, like the Istanbul airport's, without internet access?

Certainly....A WiFi connection, just means that you are connected to a access point, not the internet.

What would be the point of that?

To prevent unauthorized access to the internet. It is also possible/probable that the airports internet/ISP was having problems.

 

[Applejuiced]

Like James said you can be connected to a wifi router but the internet on it might be down. So you cant pull any data at all.
Happens all the time with free wifi hotspots.