Ask HN: Why do hotels etc. WiFi networks all use captive portals?
The article discusses the prevalence of captive portals on public WiFi networks in hotels and similar venues. It questions whether their use is due to imitation, legal requirements, or technical benefits. The author seeks insights into whether these portals serve a practical purpose or are simply a widespread convention.
- ▪Many public WiFi networks use captive portals that require only a button click to access.
- ▪The article questions if captive portals are used due to peer influence among decision makers.
- ▪Legal teams may believe terms and conditions on captive portals provide liability protection.
- ▪Captive portals might serve technical purposes like limiting connection duration or controlling IoT device access.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Many of them don't require any kind of authentication, just clicking a button.Is it just a case of "monkey see monkey do" (decision makers see it everywhere, so they also want it), do lawyers really think that giving people pages full of "you must not use this wifi to break the law" T&Cs is necessary, or does it serve an actual technical purpose like soft-disconnecting devices after N hours to minimize background traffic or keeping noisy IoT devices from blindly connecting to the open WiFi?
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Ycombinator.