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eekamouse
SMARTY Maverick
Joined 04-02-2023
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Re: Auto Wi-Fi log in London Underground?
ChalkychapWe might be talking about 2 different things. I'm talking about connecting to an 802.1x Wi-Fi network (such as THREE_WIFI or "Wi-Fi Extra"), not an ordinary domestic Wi-Fi network - they are very different beasts. Are you talking about connecting to a domestic Wi-Fi network or an 802.1x network (secured by an EAP Radius server)?15KViews1like1CommentRe: Auto Wi-Fi log in London Underground?
ChalkychapOn your iPhone, when you manually connect to an 802.1X Wi-Fi network such as THREE_WIFI (if you're with Smarty or Three) or "Wi-Fi Extra" (if you're with O2 or Giffgaff) for the very first time, do you get a screen asking you for any information? On Android, we must manually select the EAP method (EAP-SIM, EAP-AKA, EAP-AKA', EAP-MD5, EAP-TLS, etc) and I am wondering whether you get asked a similar question on iOS. I am intrigued about this changeover to BAI - there is nothing about it at all on the Smarty website (the instructions still only say to connect to THREE_WIFI). Do you have any details (such as which SSID to select), or is your info from the press releases? Best wishes, Eek.15KViews0likes3CommentsRe: Auto Wi-Fi log in London Underground?
If there is an auto-connect checkbox, and you have checked it /enabled it, and it still is not auto-connecting, then that is definitely a bug in your phone's operating system. I have googled for similar problems on other mobile networks/Wi-Fi services, and many O2/Giffgaff people report the same problem ("No auto-connection") with the "Wi-Fi Extra" network (this is the O2-equivalent of "THREE_WIFI"). I happen to know that "Wi-Fi Extra" also uses EAP-AKA as its authentication protocol, so my guess is that these problems are all due to buggy implementations of EAP-AKA (and possibly other EAP methods) in earlier versions of iOS. You may want to try disabling then re-enabling the "auto-connection" checkbox - this might kick something into action. If you can choose which EAP method to use when you first connect to THREE_WIFI (I don't use any Apple devices so I don't know), then you can also try the following: "forget" your connection to THREE_WIFI, then reconnect using EAP-SIM instead of EAP-AKA. EAP-SIM predates EAP-AKA (which means that your phone's ability to handle that earlier protocol may be better) and my initial experiments show that Three's authentication server will accept either EAP-SIM or EAP-AKA (Three's authentication server is the machine that decides whether to give you permission to join the Wi-Fi network, based on information stored inside your sim.) Alternatively, if you can upgrade to a newer version of iOS, then that may also help. Kind regards, Eek.15KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Auto Wi-Fi log in London Underground?
Quick correction to Chalkychap 's info : EAP-AKA is not needed in order to auto-connect. EAP-AKA is needed to be able to connect at all (I didn't use the word "auto" in any of my posts). If your phone can connect at all, then it must understand EAP-AKA. "Auto-connection" is orthogonal (independent) to any authentication protocol - it just depends on how your phone's operating system's programmers chose to code it. StevenB_1465005: I know nothing about iPhones, so I cannot specifically help you. All that I can suggest is to look around the UI to see whether there is an "Auto-connect?" check-box somewhere that you have missed (this may be an option for just the THREE_WIFI network, or it may be a more-general option somewhere under "Wireless" or "Wi-Fi"). If there is no "Auto-connect?" option that you can enable and you still have to manually connect every time you arrive in a station, then I am afraid that it would seem to be a limitation of the version of your operating system (iOS) that is on your phone. Hope this helps. Eek.15KViews1like10CommentsRe: London underground wifi
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.6.5KViews2likes0CommentsRe: London underground wifi
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!)6.8KViews0likes1Comment