London underground wifi

[Jonatha_1353226]

Has anyone successfully connected to the London underground wifi? The instructions say to join the "Three_UK" SSID using the AKA method. I have followed this, but I have never successfully connected, so would like to know if it's just me

[MichaelJ_425957]

Yes I've joined it without issue. But it's only in the stations so its use is pretty limited.

[DuncanK_1714967]

Yes. After getting my SMARTY SIM i just went on the three network whilst waiting for a train and it connected automatically. Am using an iPhone 12 Pro Max

[eekamouse]

@Jonatha_1353226Did you ever get this to work? I have the same problem even using 2 different mobile phones! (A Oneplus 5T and a Samsung Galaxy S4)

[Jonatha_1353226]

No! I complained but they just asked me to try another phone, which I don't have. I suggest to complain and tell them you tried multiple phones. Mine is oneplus nord ce

[eekamouse]

@Jonatha_1353226OK - thank you for the info. The Complaints dept is dealing with my issue at the moment - I will keep this thread updated with any progress.

[eekamouse]

@Jonatha_1353226I have not yet succeeded in getting this "fixed", but I do have a question for you.

When you joined Smarty, did you do a "number transfer" to keep your old number from your previous network, or did you start with a new number that was "allocated" by Smarty?

(I did a number transfer from my old network, and I am starting to wonder whether Three's Wi-fi authentication mechanism thinks that I am still on O2!)

[Jonatha_1353226]

Yes I did transfer my number, but interestingly it was from Three. I had a theory that maybe they deregistered by number at Three, but then it somehow didn't re-register at Smarty. Or the other idea was that it could be an Android thing, since the only people I've heard it working for so far are iphone users

[Chalkychap]

Hey @eekamouse, it worked for me but I'm using an iPhone.

If you're desperate for free Wi-Fi in London Underground stations, then maybe you should try a Network Reset on your Android devices. 

[eekamouse]

Ok, the answer to this problem is actually really simple. The "THREE_WIFI" network (used by both Three and Smarty customers) uses a security protocol called EAP-AKA. To be able to connect to this network, your phone must understand that security protocol. It turns out that OnePlus were really late to implement EAP-AKA into their stock system (i.e. the system that OnePlus puts onto their phones at their factory).

To give you an idea of how late they were, EAP-AKA is defined in a document called RFC 4187 which was published in January 2006. The system that I was using on my Oneplus 5T was released in 2017, and it still did not contain EAP-AKA.

In the end, I replaced the standard system on my phone (OxygenOS v10/Android 10) with a "third-party" system (LineageOS v18.1/Android 11), and I can now connect perfectly to THREE_WIFI.

Hope this helps, Eek.

[ckcrunch]

Did you ever fix this?  I just joined from O2 (where it worked fine connecting to Wifi_Extra, although a bit temperamental), I transferred my number over and the connection to the THREE hotspot just times out and it gives me a generic cannot connect message whether I use EAP-AKA or EAP-SIM.