Lately, it has been quite difficult for me to connect to Starbucks WiFi. About a year ago, the network would connect pretty quickly, but now it seems like the network is powered by voodoo magic and the will of Satan.
Well, I have discovered the ultimate way to connect to the network every time. Now, this is still complete bullshit, considering the year is 2014 and we have a rover on Mars, but we still can't connect to a wireless network. Don't even get me started on wireless printers.
Here is the process I use to connect quickly:
1. Connect to the Starbucks network with your phone
Yes. Use your cell phone to connect to the Starbucks wireless network. I have never had a problem connecting any phone to the Starbucks wifi. It seems like phones have some sort of special powers.
2. Turn on tethering and connect to your computer to your phone
Once you connect your phone to the Starbucks network, turn on tethering or wifi hotspot. Then, on your computer, connect to your phones network.
Here are instructions for turning on wireless hotspot on iOS and android.
3. Load the Starbucks connection page
Now you will go to the Starbucks connection page and wait until it is finished loading.
If it doesn't load all the way, that is fine. Just hit the stop button when you think it has reached a point of not going any further.
DO NOT PRESS THE GREEN SUBMIT BUTTON!
Control yourself. We will do this later.
4. Switch your computer to the Starbucks network
While that connection page is still open, switch your computers wifi from the phones hotspot connection to the Starbucks network.
5. Click the big green button to connect
Now that you have the connection page loaded and your computer connected to the Starbucks wifi, you can press the big green submit button. This will complete the authentication and it should redirect you to the Starbucks homepage.
Why does this work?
I am not really sure. I think the reason might be that an unauthenticated connection to the network (a connection that has not made it past the connection page) has limited bandwidth.
This means that all pages are trying to load with a throttled speed. Typically, the browser will only try to connect for so long before it gives up and assumes the site is unreachable (a timeout occurs).
With my process, you are using a connection that is already authenticated, so you have the full speed you need in order to load the necessary page without it timing out on you.
Side Note
You can probably use your phones data network to load the initial Starbucks connection page. Then switch from the phone to Starbucks and press the green button.
Did this work?
This always works for me. It is a hell of a lot better than waiting a solid 30 minutes before the network finally connects. If this works for you, please leave a comment and let me know. If it doesn't work, let me know what you did in order to get it to work.
