Re:NeverSSL – helping you get online
by antsar on Thursday August 01, 2019 @10:28AM
(#20583933)
Perhaps the folks running these networks lack the incentive to care about technical correctness? OTOH, one would think a better system would lead to a higher conversion rate (i.e. more people are actually able to pay you).
[ Parent
| on HN ]
They seem to have an incentive mostly to say that they "have public wifi" but not take responsibility for delivering a working system.
Yeah, for "free wifi", the incentive is definitely to not connect you. You don't consume bandwidth, so the handful of people who do connect won't complain about shitty speeds.
For paid wifi, on the other hand, wouldn't they want to ensure you can connect? Most airlines charge for wifi. Yet I find myself typing "example.com" on almost every single flight.
There is incentive to connect you to the wifi, but no to the internet. Having you trapped behind a captive portal is perfect for this. You are connected to their wifi so they can more accurately track you through the store, but you are not using their internet bandwidth.