Has anyone else noticed this? It’s happened to me twice so far. I’ve not yet got a fixed ADSL line so have to hop hot-spots. But yesterday, when on an open wireless network, I found that although the meter said there was a strong connection (3–4 bars), I wasn’t actually able to access any website. I hadn’t done anything to my computer but did wonder if it was me. But someone sitting near me said to me “no wireless”, so obviously he’d had that trouble too. I then got the same response from a totally different open network in another cafe. This also happened to me once before, a couple of weeks ago.
Is it the host? Or something else? In case it’s relevant, I’m using a Mac.
You may be trying to get onto to the Taipei city wide network. You have to register to get an account. Oh, and foreigners have to pay during the trial period. The service is free for now for everyone else.
Thanks for the info. No I’m not trying to connect to the city-wide network, or any others that come up with a registration page. I mean connecting to apparently open networks that sometimes work but other times just come up with an “Error” dialog box on my browser. Gary’s explanation makes sense. I suppose that at these time, whether by accident or design, the router’s either not connected, or not open to untrusted connections. Or is overloaded.