Wireless network connections in hotels and on the road

If you ever try to be smart and add some hi-speed DNS servers to your WiFi DNS settings ... don't. I thought I was and the last months I have been wondering why I couldn't connect to wireless LANs in hotels and trains - and they didn't know either.

Today, at Hotel BB (good hotel btw) they put me in contact with their WiFi-provider and after a going through every detail, we found the reason: my manual DNS entries. Why did I put them there? Well, at home I sometimes use NameBench to find the best DNS-servers. And since Google's DNS servers are mostly the fastest, I thought it a good thing to add those two (8.8.8.8 and 4.4.4.4) permanently to the DNS of my WiFi connection! Which then blocked and confused the routers in the hotels I was staying or the trains on which I travelled. And I thought what a shitty stuf do these guys have... hum hum ;-)

So.... I created a separate location for when I am mobile and I called it Mobile (DHCP). I leave it totally empty so routers in hotels and trains can discuss with my Macbook Pro what is the best connection and which DNS-servers to use. Here's how in images:


 

 

 

 

 
and click Apply when the Mac asks you to!

Now, whenever I go out and take my MacBook Pro with me, I first choose this Mobile (DHCP) location so whatever WiFi-router I connect to, I have a good chance for internet access.