25 August 2008

WiFi at Fountain Square

I have a new G3 Iphone. It was a gift from my dear wife, and I have been figuring out how it works for the past 3 weeks. One thing that drives me crazy is that I can go all over this city and access the internet and check my mail. All over the city except one location and that is Fountain Square and the one or two blocks around it.

For some reason, if I try to check email while at the square, I am automatically diverted to a Cincinnati Bell WiFi site that wants credit card info to get service. If I walk two blocks to the north, I resume regular service. I get regular service in Clifton, Avondale, North Avondale, West End, all over except Fountain Square.

Now despite being a uber-blogger, I really don't research or completely understand how the G3 or WiFi works. All I know is that I cannot check my email or browse a website on Fountain Square, but I can all over the rest of the city.

Am I doing something wrong, or are the Corporate Overlords screwing me? Seems like FS would be a key place to offer free WiFi.

Promotion for a Disney movie "Bolt" on The Square Saturday:
 

6 comments:

theboilover said...

You can always go into the settings on the iphone to turn off the wifi and strictly use the 3G while you are on the square. I would agree though, that is the one place you expect free wifi....

CityKin said...

I would think that if you couldn't get onto a wifi network then it should automatically shift to the 3G. Something doesn't seem right. but thanks for the hint about turning the wifi off in settings. I'll try that tommorrow.

Randy Simes said...

I've never encountered this problem. I wonder what gives.

Anonymous said...

Next time you're on fountain square, go into your WiFi settings, touch the blue arrow next to the undesirable network, then touch "Forget this Network." You'll still see it if in the list of available networks, but your phone will stop connecting to it automatically.

CityKin said...

-thanks that helps a lot.

Morris said...

Congrats on the iPhone! When on the Square, if you access the lilypad WIFI, you need to accept their terms in Safari before it works. Sometimes I forget to do that and try to get mail before I've done that.