What about the LTE / random WiFi issue?

[mark34]

i don’t see any complaints about the issue where the AW series 3 LTE connects to random WiFi instead of LTE. It sounded as though this was going to be a major issue, but I’m not seeing complaints about it on release day. Thoughts?

 

[BrettDS]

The issue isn’t as big of a problem as some of the media made it sound (I think initially there was some confusion about exactly what was happening) and the issue is not that the watch will connect to random WiFi networks either. The watch will only connect to known WiFi networks that you have connected to with your phone.

The problem happens when there is a known WiFi network that has an interstitial login (where you get redirected to a webpage where you need to enter information or agree to terms before the WiFi becomes active). The watch has no way to present this login webpage, so it connects to the WiFi network, but can’t actually access the internet. The workaround is to use your phone to forget that WiFi network (while the phone is connected to the watch). Since it will no longer be a known network then the watch will no longer attempt to connect to it.

Of course if you are one of the many people who typically doesn’t connect to public WiFi networks with interstitial logins then you won’t run into this problem at all.

 

[Farrellcollie]

I don’t know if stars by random Wi-Fi or not but my cellular does keep dropping and it takes a while to get it to reconnect

 

[Treebark]

The issue isn’t as big of a problem as some of the media made it sound (I think initially there was some confusion about exactly what was happening) and the issue is not that the watch will connect to random WiFi networks either. The watch will only connect to known WiFi networks that you have connected to with your phone.

The problem happens when there is a known WiFi network that has an interstitial login (where you get redirected to a webpage where you need to enter information or agree to terms before the WiFi becomes active). The watch has no way to present this login webpage, so it connects to the WiFi network, but can’t actually access the internet. The workaround is to use your phone to forget that WiFi network (while the phone is connected to the watch). Since it will no longer be a known network then the watch will no longer attempt to connect to it.

Of course if you are one of the many people who typically doesn’t connect to public WiFi networks with interstitial logins then you won’t run into this problem at all.

Great, clear response. I just wanted to add that it is interesting to see which reviewers/bloggers/writers tend to use insecure public networks...a bad habit imo. I suppose they could be turning in a vpn, but I doubt it. And they just broadcasted to the world that they do this a lot. Of course, it was also nice they found the issue for Apple (when Apple should have caught this bug).

 

[Farrellcollie]

I’ll be interested to see how mine works on Monday when I go into work. The Wi-Fi there is screwy as all get out With insane passwords and confirmations that the person joining is who they say they are etc. Mine is dropping right now whenever I leave the house and he requires me to turn it on and off to get the LTE to show up -so to me -the reports are accurate .

 

[lw9090]

I'm starting to think the Verge was paid off to write a bad review on the watch.

 

[steelo3232]

Mine does this all the time LTE doesn’t work when I’m in the presence of a unknown WiFi network. It’s annoying and in my case it’s nerworks I’ve never connected to.