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ipod touch can´t connect anywhere!?

I have just arrived in spain, I have come across many free wifi networks at various cafes and now i´m in a hostel with wifi that requires a password, but all the free spots as well as when I have the login information say I can´t connect! I´ve searched online and most people say I just shouldn´t have a problem no troubleshooting can anyone help? Bought this for this trip specifically thinking it would be an invaluable tool

Posted by
180 posts

To add to Ken, many unsecured networks still have a login page or terms and conditions page. As a result, you often can't just connect to a network and then hit send and receive on your email. You need to open Safari, try to connect to a page like Google and then if you successfully hit it you can then check your email.

Pete

Posted by
32324 posts

elijah,

You'll probably have to go to the "Settings" menu (on the main page) and then click "Wi-Fi". That will display all the networks that are available in that location. Select one of them and then return to the main menu and it should work.

Note that if the Wi-Fi network has a small "Padlock" symbol next to it, the network is locked and you'll need a Password to access it.

If there are a number of networks available and these are different than the last one accessed, the IPod Touch needs to "know" which one to access.

Hopefully this will work for you.

Cheers!

Posted by
23 posts

Um, yeah.. not to be rude but with statements like ¨they call it wireless internet¨ i´m not sure if i´m being made fun of here...it isn´t like i´ve never used internet before. I´m assuming the problem has something to do with the actual network settings I just didn´t know if they had to be set up a particular way over here. Has anyone brought their itouch to spain and not had to change anything and it worked¿ thing is my laptop works just fine where I am so I really have no idea what the issue might be.

Posted by
120 posts

Elijah: I thought Steve was being helpful, not making fun. Did the previous suggestions work?

Posted by
113 posts

The suggestions offered so far are good ones. To reiterate:

1) Make sure that you FIRST open the Safari app and try to visit a common website BEFORE you attempt to use other Internet apps such as Mail, Weather, etc. This should cause the screen to display whatever login information is required by that wi-fi network. Of course it may be in tiny print, so stretch your browser window larger to read it. Also note that some wi-fi hotspots won't require a login, but they will still require you to press an "OK" button (or similar) on the browser to confirm that you accept their terms of service. After you clear their browser login, all other apps like Mail should start working.

2) Open the Settings app, then touch the word "Wi-fi" to see your Wi-fi settings. First, make sure that the Wifi switch is set to "ON"! Then look below that to see which networks are available and make sure that you're actually connecting to the correct network.

Good luck!

Posted by
1152 posts

Elijah:

I reread the posts and I don't think you were being patronized. Sometimes comments made in writing just come across differently, though, so I can also understand how you could take it that way.

I guess pointing out that the "wireless internet" is the same as "wifi" could be seen as being somewhat akin to telling someone that "cell phones" are called "mobiles" overseas. You could probably figure it out, but still, it is helpful to know in advance. That's why I wouldn't take offense. Telling someone what a "handy" is. Now that would be helpful. (It's a cell phone in Germany . . . as I understand it.)

I have had trouble connecting my mobile phone to wifi before. I never could see the sign-on screen but I didn't know what I was doing wrong. I appreciate the tip and I can't wait to try it.

Posted by
23 posts

elijah,

sometimes where you're located makes a difference. i find i must "connect" closer to the router than maybe a laptop. for some hotels in the Uk i had to go to the lobby area to connect even though it was supposed to cover the whole hotel. try moving around. i also have an app called WifiTrak that senses more wifi hotspots than your ipod settings will and automatically connects to the strongest signal.

i agree with the other advice on going to safari and taking care of the login or "agreement" first.

Posted by
23 posts

ok iºm guessing this is justa generation gap thing, so hopefully apple will emailme back eventually lol. iºm hoping its just specific to spain and portugal and once i get somewhere with better infrastructure it wont be a problem anymore. the last place i stayed at said they specifically have network problem with apple devices and even had a password just in case you had an apple instead of a pc. I imagine there is something that can be changed in the network settings to fix this but I donºt know anything about that stuff.

Posted by
23 posts

that bitabout the wifitrack app however sounds very helpful, thanks

Posted by
1035 posts

I had no trouble connecting my iPhone in Spain or lots of other places.

Try rebooting it -- I am not kidding, sometimes this helps.

Posted by
24 posts

I have a Touch and am also having trouble connecting at a location like the Birmingham, AL airport. Most places it works great though. Also trouble logging into some websites. Just upgraded to the latest software 3.1 but haven't tried it at the airport though. Before I upgraded to 3.0 I didn't have any trouble at that airport, so something changed with 3.0. I don't think Elijah is doing anything wrong, I think the problem is something other than operator error. Unfortunately I don't have a solution yet. I am seriously rethinking my idea to travel with only a Touch and no laptop next trip.

Posted by
126 posts

Bought ipod touch for emailing while in France. Got a router at home and it worked fine. Even the Starbucks people had difficulty making it work. Took it many times to electronic stores and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. Finally got it to work very slowly in a Paris hotel and after that we used McDonalds. Again from time to time it would not work. Early in the trip I got a double keyboard and another tourist used his iphone and did troubleshooting and we ended up rebooting. At least then it would work, but it was still very frustrating and slow to use the wifi that a hotel supplied.

Posted by
1893 posts

I had the same problem in Germany. I just got back, even when I found a wifi signal, and added it, I was not able to connect to the web at all.

I even found an Apple store in Germany ---free wifi, but my iphone would not connect at all. I learned when I returned home that there is a different "signal" in Europe in some places and our American technology won't connect....now that sounds weird, I'd think it would be the same everywhere, but perhaps not.

I tried Starbucks as well, but that was T-mobile, so unable to use with AT &T.

All this being said, I had no problem in May in Italy with my phone, I used it several times when I found a signal--- Who knows!

If you reconnect the Data roaming, you'll be able to use wifi, but you will be charged, and I'm sure you don't want to do that.

I resorted to internet cafes in Germany...used 20 min for 1Euro, in the end it was worth it.

Good luck!

Posted by
9109 posts

There's no "different signal" in Europe. But at the router, WiFi signals can be configured with different radio bands, and security protocols. Not all hand-held devices can handle the more "exotic" settings.

Also, when I used to bring my PDA with me in my travels I used to have a similar problem with not being able to connect properly over time. I finally figured out that every time I connected the PDA to a signal, the settings for the individual WiFi hotspots were stored in the units memory. So eventually it would get overloaded and would have problems connecting. By going into the WiFi settings there was an option to remove all those stored hotpots, and after I did that the problems would go away. Another issue...when in a big city my PDA would sometimes be completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of signals, usually rebooting solved this one. As I don't own an Itouch I don't know if any of this is relevant, but it's worth looking into.

Posted by
14 posts

I arrived in Barcelona 22nd of Sept. and am now in Madrid and so far I have no problems with wifi connections. I bought my iPod touch last year and have used it in Turkey, Greece, Qatar, Southeast Asia, France and now here in Spain. It had served all my basic Internet needs. I have not updated anything since I bought it.

Posted by
92 posts

I took my ipod touch on a Rick Steves GAS tour last year and was able to connect at all of the hotels we stayed in except one, which didn't offer wifi. Only one of the hotels (Murren) charged. Great, small and lightweight travel accessory.

Posted by
1 posts

We have had no luck whatsoever connecting an iTouch or and iPhone while in Barcelona Spain. Even at the hotel with kubi networks and a password, we got an initial connect for some apps like the NY Times, but could never get email and such plain vanilla things like the weather would never update. Tech support at Kubi suggested we needed to open the browser and configure network settings but since they had never seen an iTouch (honestly - that´s what they said) they were unable to help us. No luck with the Safari browser. We even went to a Telefonica store where they advertise Movistar (their wifi provider) and where they sell the iPhone and the people were clueless. Attempts to connect at McDonalds where they offer free wifi were unsuccessful also. So we´ve given up on being able to connect in this city. In Madrid and in the La Rioja region we had no problems and all of the apps worked just fine.

Posted by
1 posts

HI there! I just bought an ipod touch this year in america. I now live in Greece. I cannot connect to any wifi. when i get on safari each time the pop up screen says "Cannot open page/ The error was:
Operation could not be completed.Invalid argument."
is anyone out there familiar with this problem and know how to resolve it? thanks in advance

Posted by
9369 posts

Rick, no one here was able to come up with a definitive answer for this problem when this original question was asked. You might be better off contacting Apple.

Posted by
23557 posts

This may not directly apply to eligah's problem but we encountered a strange problem. Lst month we were carrying a netbook, Asus, through that area -- Spain, Italy, Greece. The first time we tried to connect, it appeared to fail. After a delay, we would get a message box saying, "Connection Failed" Could not figure out why so we put it away and tried later at another location. Same results. About the fourth or fifth time, I noticed that the little tiny icon in the bottom right hand corner of the screen that indicated that a connection had been established was active even though the message screen said that the connect had failed. And the icon was correct, we had a connection and everything worked fine. But all through Europe we continued to get the message screen that the connection had failed when in fact it had not. Works fine now that we are home. Anyone have a thought?

Posted by
9109 posts

Possibly when your netbook said "Connection Failed" it was referring to your operating system attempting to connect via your LAN jack. With nothing plugged in the connection would obviously fail.

Posted by
1 posts

I just got back from a 7 city Euro trip. The thing with the Itouch is that even in the states it does not work every where. For some reason some connections even if they are clear just dont come through. In Europe in all my hotels and hostels that had wifi, the connnection went through except for one. In spain there is a lot of free hot spotsthrough out the cities. I was standing next to a random bus stop in Barcelona and I picked up a free wifi signal from the city. In Madrid at the Sol station/plaza there is a small building that advertises free wifi. Everywhere else outside of the hotels I was able to pick up internet connections but I had to pay for them. I don't like to pay for them so I would just wait for the next city or hotel that had internet so I could check my emails and all that stuff. If you need a intenet connection for business or for something more important than to just check for emails than I suggest you buy an iphone or something that you pay for the wireless connection rather than relying on a free wifi. Overall I was very pleased with the itouch on my euro trip. When I had some down time I would map out my next couple of days of excursions using maps which works great in Europe.

Posted by
188 posts

I brought my iTouch to S. America and was able to connect to wifi usually-]sometimes really slow in rural areas. However, in Houston airport, I couldn't make a connection even after checking settings, etc. I'm wondering if the iTouch has a "less powerful" processor or wifi chip or ?? than laptops and iPhones???

Posted by
707 posts

This post is getting a little old by now but .... I used my iPod Touch successfully in both Barcelona and Madrid last October. I agree with the suggestions made by Ken and others. Here's another. Just yesterday in my local Starbucks I got a "connection failed" error message when trying to log on. I waited a few seconds and the Starbucks wifi page came on, I agreed to whatever, and away we went. Suggestion: wait. It seems to try the network you had been on previously, that fails, then it finds the present or current one. At least that's my take on the thing.

Posted by
500 posts

I would clear all previous networks from the wifi settings, restart the ipod touch and try again.