Issue with Winegard connectivity to free xfinitywifi hotspots?

[drewb4]

As an Xfinity home customer, I have access on my mobile devices to all the free xfinitywifi hotspots around the country. Camping last weekend, there was an xfinity hotspot nearby that I could connect to on my phone, and could "see" on the Roku TV, but I could not get the Winegard to pick it up. Has anyone successfully connected to one of these on the winegard, or would you know why I couldn't connect to it?

 

[Soundsailor]

As an Xfinity home customer, I have access on my mobile devices to all the free xfinitywifi hotspots around the country. Camping last weekend, there was an xfinity hotspot nearby that I could connect to on my phone, and could "see" on the Roku TV, but I could not get the Winegard to pick it up. Has anyone successfully connected to one of these on the winegard, or would you know why I couldn't connect to it?

Those hotspots require you to log in to Xfinity to be authenticated as an Xfinity customer. I'm not sure how you do that with your Wineguard, I was able to do it successfully with our travel router so it can be done. Good news? You'll only have to do it once and Xfinity will recognize the device the next time.

 

[drewb4]

Those hotspots require you to log in to Xfinity to be authenticated as an Xfinity customer. I'm not sure how you do that with your Wineguard, I was able to do it successfully with our travel router so it can be done. Good news? You'll only have to do it once and Xfinity will recognize the device the next time.

Thanks, yes if you are on the Winegard wifi from a phone or laptop, it should take you to a splash screen to log in. However, in the Wifi search it didn't even find "xfinitywifi". It seemed weird to me that it didn't even find it... unless it is on a different band or something and not identifiable. I am not up to speed on how it all works.

 

[Foxtrot]

When we installed the 4 G router we were told we could connect with our Verizon phones as mobile hotspots. Have never been able to connect. Speaking with Winegard this week we were told not possible, as we need to access internet and use Winguard sim card to connect to the internet to do any type of setup. Basically the dealer sold u an option that doesn’t work how we explained we intended to us it. Basically you need to be somewhere with Wi-fi and shore power to even attempt a setup from what they told me at Wingard., and since my phones are 5 G they may not work with a 4 G router

 

[Captcolour]

When we installed the 4 G router we were told we could connect with our Verizon phones as mobile hotspots. Have never been able to connect. Speaking with Winegard this week we were told not possible, as we need to access internet and use Winguard sim card to connect to the internet to do any type of setup. Basically the dealer sold u an option that doesn’t work how we explained we intended to us it. Basically you need to be somewhere with Wi-fi and shore power to even attempt a setup from what they told me at Wingard., and since my phones are 5 G they may not work with a 4 G router

Boy that's not correct at all, at least not for a Winegard 360+. You do not need their SIM card and certainly don't need shore power as the 360+ and router are 12V. You need to connect to the Winegard using the IP address in the instructions to get to their clunky set-up page. There you tell it whether you want to connect to WiFi or cellular via an installed SIM card. I have an AT&T SIM card installed so use that.

To the OP, not sure why the Xfinity wouldn't show up here, but might have to do with the frequency (2.4 GHz vs 5.0)?

 

[Foxtrot]

Boy that's not correct at all, at least not for a Winegard 360+. You do not need their SIM card and certainly don't need shore power as the 360+ and router are 12V. You need to connect to the Winegard using the IP address in the instructions to get to their clunky set-up page. There you tell it whether you want to connect to WiFi or cellular via an installed SIM card. I have an AT&T SIM card installed so use that.

To the OP, not sure why the Xfinity wouldn't show up here, but might have to do with the frequency (2.4 GHz vs 5.0)?

But to access the LCL TV you need shore power, it is not 12 volt. The only sim card in the Winged 360 is the theirs, we did not purchase a Verizon sim card as we travel with 3 Verizon devices on unlimited plan. Our plan was to use one as the remote to connect with. Just going with what Winged told us, that we need to either install a Sim card or use the Winged one to buy a plan.

 

[Captcolour]

But to access the LCL TV you need shore power, it is not 12 volt. The only sim card in the Winged 360 is the theirs, we did not purchase a Verizon sim card as we travel with 3 Verizon devices on unlimited plan. Our plan was to use one as the remote to connect with. Just going with what Winged told us, that we need to either install a Sim card or use the Winged one to buy a plan.

I should have been clearer. You connect to the Winegard using a laptop so again don't need shore power as long as the laptop is charged. You would use the laptop to get to the clunky set-up screen. You would think you would see the Xfinity hotspot as a WiFi option in the set-up screen.

I've never used my Winegard to connect to WiFi. Only have used it with my installed AT&T SIM card.

 

[ocbizman1]

Ok, there is a lot going on in this thread. I have recently experienced all of this in the last 3 weeks so I will share my experience.

1. - My WifiRanger Osprey router did come with an AT+T/Winegard SIM. I purchased this router because it is compatible with the Winegard Air 360 antenna. And side note, WifiRanger was bought out by Winegard in the last couple of years.
2. - I purchased a FreedomGo data plan from Winegard and it worked, but was super expensive so I looked to switch.
3. - I've read a number of posts where people have said that they used a Verizon SIM in their WifiRanger Osprey or Winegard 1000 routers, but when I tried to order a SIM from Verizon the Verizon site said that my device was not compatible.
4. - I ended up with an AT+T Pre-Paid data plan. Problem is that the Winegard/AT+T SIM card was NOT compatible with the AT+T Pre-paid Data account, so I had to go to an AT+T store and get a new SIM. Fortunately that was free. But over 3 hours of my life that I will never get back!
5. - I FINALLY got my router to work with my new AT+T Pre-paid data plan using the new SIM.
6. - If you could see your VZW hotspot on the list of wifi sources on your Roku, then you should be able to connect your Winegard router to that hotspot. You would need to get on your laptop, log in to the router control panel, scan for networks, and then add the network as a wifi source in the Set Up screen. It should not matter than your phone is 5G and the Air 360 is 4G.
7. - In terms of router set up, you 'should' be able to connect your laptop to the router via wifi without having an internet source using the local IP address to the router control panel. You should then be able to then use the control panel to scan for wifi sources, and/or set up the SIM card. Note, you will need internet access to activate a SIM card, or purchase data.
8. - Regarding the xfinity issue. What I am reading is that the OP has a home xfinity internet plan that allows you to access mobile data via a hotspot BUT requires you to log in to their xfinity account to verify that you are using your home account for mobile data. While that statement may be confusing to some it makes sense to me. But that should only require the user to be able to access the internet from a mobile phone, along with their user name (or account number) and xfinish home password. I don't have xfinity so I would say that the OP needs to do more research with xfinity customer support on that one.