Trouble with WiFi access in some hotspots

[gauchogolfer]

Here's the deal:
I was at a hotel the other day while traveling, trying to connect to their public wifi network. I saw the network SSID in the Airport menu, go to connect, see the place to enter the WPA password, then....no dice. All I get is an error message saying (there was an error connecting to network *****). I tried the password again with a #-sign in front, since that has sometimes been a fix in the past. I tried using DHCP and manually entering an IP similar to that of someone else in the area. No matter what I did I was never able to connect. The bar guy said that people with Macs sometimes had difficulty connecting to their network? What gives? The router was a Freebox, by the way, in a hotel in Saint Malo, France.

When I'm faced with this again in the future, what are the troubleshooting steps I should try? I refuse to believe that my powerbook can't connect to a public wifi network just like everyone else. What difference between my machine and a PC that's sitting right next to me could there be? I looked at console logs, and it only said "timed out" and didn't say why it couldn't connect. Thanks in advance for the help, I'm looking forward to assembling a checklist of things to try the next time I have this problem.

Cheers.

 

[mad jew]

Maybe try putting the password in quotation marks ("password") or using a dollar sign at the start ($), although this last method is generally only meant to work on WEP networks. I don't usually have trouble connecting to a wireless network but sometimes need a specific proxy set (PAC file) to be able to connect to the internet. I usually make a new location when I join a new network, just to give me some fresh settings.

 

[gauchogolfer]

Maybe try putting the password in quotation marks ("password") or using a dollar sign at the start ($), although this last method is generally only meant to work on WEP networks. I don't usually have trouble connecting to a wireless network but sometimes need a specific proxy set (PAC file) to be able to connect to the internet. I usually make a new location when I join a new network, just to give me some fresh settings.

Thanks mj, for the response.
I did indeed make a new location (I didn't know why, but it seemed like the right thing to do ). I'll give a try to the other ways of putting in passwords next time. Any explanation on the PAC-file-thingy, is there anything I should check or is it out of my control?

 

[mad jew]

I dunno of a way of checking if a PAC file is needed without asking the administrator. If the network is set up really well, opening your browser will automatically redirect you to a download of the PAC file which you'll merely have to double click on to install. You have to actually get on the wireless network first though.