Originally Posted by brymbo76:
“Well obviously I wouldn't be asking for a Wi-Fi hotspot to list that many apps!
I just meant the Top 10 or so Apps and other applications people tend to use in everyday life like the ones I stated at the beginning: "email or Apps such as LINE, WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, eBay, Dropbox and open the Internet Browser".”
Well that's not strictly what you originally said:
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“Well I still think each 'Free Wi-Fi' Hotspot should specify which apps you can and can't use before wasting time trying to connect to them.”
but OK - and who is going to constantly look at this top 10 of apps (it will change, over time), and all their latest updates, and test them, for a service which they are giving you for free?
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“Anyway, 'Free Wi-Fi' should mean anything you can do on your Wi-Fi at home, you can do for free at any establishment displaying the 'Free Wi-Fi' logo.”
No. Just no. You just cannot use home-grade network setups in public places. Home network equipment is permissive by default, as the owner will have few devices and know exactly who owns and operates the equipment that uses it. When you operate a public network, you have to protect your network, and the users of your network from a multitude of threats including malware infested computers from unsuspecting users to those who will use your open WiFi network to conduct nefarious activities. This is why firewalls are there. To protect you as a user, and to protect the network itself. This has a side-effect of making some apps not work as expected in all cases. It's much safer this way.
Incidentally most public WiFi networks allow your listed apps. FON hotspots are a little trickier because they typically run from Homehubs, which are not designed to handle lots of users at once. They are also much more restricted, depending on the age of the equipment.
For e-mail: Standard in-the-clear SMTP access on port 25 is routinely blocked by just about everyone to prevent spambots using networks to send millions of emails. Standard email traffic is "in the clear" and you should ensure your mail settings use SSL if you're going to be using it over open hotspots. Otherwise it is trivial for another user on the network to read your emails as they arrive and as you send them.
In the end, you are using someone else's network, free of charge. If they don't want a service running on it, that's up to them.
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“Either that or the level of connectivity should be more easily explained alongside the 'Free Wi-Fi' logo to explain to people who don't understand much about 'Free Wi-Fi' as to what you can and can't do at that particular 'Free Wi-Fi' hotspot you are connected or trying to connect to.”
It's not a simple thing to explain in a few words. Anyone's expectation of a public wifi network should be that you can use it to view websites through a browser. The rest is a bonus.