Has Anyone Been Able to Connect to a Mobile Hotspot Lately with an Android phone?

CrouchingBruin
CrouchingBruin Posts: 6 Participant
edited April 2023 in Internet 2023 Archive

I've seen several threads saying that the My Spectrum app (Android) doesn't have the ability to load a WiFi Profile (despite all of the Support pages saying that's what you're supposed to do), and to just use your Spectrum ID & password to connect to a hotspot. However, when I try to connect to either a Spectrum Mobile or Spectrum Free Trial hotspot, I get asked a number of questions, including EAP, Phase 2 authentication, CA certificate, Identity, Anonymous Identity, and Password.

If I try changing CA certificate to "Use System Certificates," then it asks for a domain name, and I've tried both spectrum.net and spectrum.com. If I try "Trust on First Use" it doesn't seem to connect, and "Install Certificates" takes me to a screen where I have no idea what I'm supposed to do.

Anyone know how to do a manual connection?


Comments

  • HT_Greenfield
    HT_Greenfield Posts: 666 Contributor
    edited February 2023 Answer ✓

    I don’t think you can build any valid Spectrum Wi-Fi connection configuration profile from scratch. I wouldn’t even try. 

    Spectrum’s WiFi Profile is supposedly only available to Spectrum Internet subscribers. Spectrum Mobile-connected Android phones should still be able to auto-connect to Spectrum Mobile Wi-Fi if you have the My Spectrum app installed with Wi-Fi enabled. They should also be able to be manually connected to Spectrum Mobile and Spectrum and Spectrum Free Trial Wi-Fi with not much if anything more than your Spectrum username & password. ("Manually" as in discover, select, authenticate, and accept.)

    🔗Connect to Spectrum Mobile WiFi Access Points

    🔗Spectrum Mobile WiFi Access Points

  • Jaleesa_F
    Jaleesa_F Posts: 317 ✅ Verified Employee Moderator

    Good morning @CrouchingBruin,

    Welcome to the Community! I'm sorry to hear that you are unable to connect to the Spectrum Hotspot. I'd like to ask a few questions to try getting to the bottom of this. When you say "hotspot", are you referring to the hotspot that is generated by your mobile device so that other devices can connect? Or are you trying to connect your device to an Out of Home wifi hotspot in the area?

  • Ewa808
    Ewa808 Posts: 6 Participant

    Having same issue with an Android phone. Haven't gotten any resolution from Spectrum. The wifi profile option doesn't exist when you are under account settings.

  • Renee_T
    Renee_T Posts: 644 ✅ Verified Employee Moderator

    Hello @Ewa808


    Welcome to our community! The Wi-Fi Profile option was causing issues with Android devices, so it was disabled. Our app team is working to revamp the feature so that it can be re-enabled. At this time they haven't given us a date for it to be rolled out.

  • Ewa808
    Ewa808 Posts: 6 Participant

    So this means I can't connect to Spectrum, Spectrum free trial, spectrum mobile until they fix this issue

  • HT_Greenfield
    HT_Greenfield Posts: 666 Contributor
    edited March 2023

    The WiFi Profile doesn’t have anything to do with Spectrum Mobile Wi-Fi and you don’t need it to connect to Spectrum or Spectrum Free Trial Wi-Fi, either.

    Even without it:

    • Spectrum Internet subscribers should be able to connect to Spectrum Free Trial (if not also Spectrum) Wi-Fi manually as in discover, select, authenticate, and accept. 
    • Spectrum Mobile-connected phones should be able to be manually connected to Spectrum Mobile as well as Spectrum and Spectrum Free Trial Wi-Fi.
    • Spectrum Mobile-connected phones should furthermore be able to auto-connect to Spectrum Mobile Wi-Fi if the My Spectrum app is installed and configured as prescribed.
  • CrouchingBruin
    CrouchingBruin Posts: 6 Participant

    @HT_Greenfield , thanks for the reply. I am a Spectrum Internet subscriber (but not Spectrum Mobile), and I have been able to connect to Spectrum WiFi access points in the past using my Spectrum ID & password. However, I just got a new phone and I was trying to connect to an access point with it, and I got the prompts for EAP Method, Phase 2 Authentication, etc., that's shown in the image that I had attached to my original message. This prompt also shows up when I try to connect to Spectrum hotspots. Before, I would get a screen that would only ask for my user ID & password, but now I get all of these extra fields.

  • HT_Greenfield
    HT_Greenfield Posts: 666 Contributor
    edited March 2023

    My compliments to you @CrouchingBruin for re-raising the flag. It turns out that a major catch was introduced with Android 11, so you might end up having to wait until the WiFi Profile for Android is ready for prime-time again at which point it should show right back up in the My Spectrum app. That might be the only way for Android 11 or later but don’t quote me on any of this.

    🔗https://www.xda-developers.com/android-11-break-enterprise-wifi-connection/


    This post was redacted (with strikethrough) at author request. Redacted with strikethrough to preserve context and flow.

  • CrouchingBruin
    CrouchingBruin Posts: 6 Participant

    @HT_Greenfield, thanks for digging up that article, and this perfectly explains my situation. My new phone is a Pixel running Android 13 and my old phone was a Motorola running Android 10. I wonder how I can bug Spectrum to implement the changes suggested in the article.

  • HT_Greenfield
    HT_Greenfield Posts: 666 Contributor
    edited March 2023

    @CrouchingBruin : Update‼️:

    Your screenshot shows you were trying to connect to “Spectrum Mobile” with the confounding result you might expect since, supposedly, only Spectrum Mobile-connected phones can connect to that one. Sometime when you’re in the neighborhood of any of them, try connecting to “Spectrum” or “SpectrumWiFi” or “Spectrum Free Trial” Wi-Fi and see if you can’t do so with not much if anything more than your username & password. Post a screenshot or two if you can’t. 

    The "catch" i cited could easily be your problem with other WPA2 or WPA3 enterprise networks that might be out of date but i now think it’s probably irrelevant with Spectrum's out-of-home Wi-Fi. Spectrum’s probably got it covered and it’s obviated by the fact that the only ones it could come into play with can only be connected to via the Wi-Fi Profile or Spectrum Mobile-connectivity in the first place, so i’m back to thinking that the only problem for Android users is how the WiFi Profile for Android is currently out of order (and hopefully not for long.) I think you should still be able manually connect to “Spectrum Free Trial” if not also “Spectrum” and/or “SpectrumWiFi”.

  • natividad7
    natividad7 Posts: 2 Spectator

    Hi,

    I'm a Spectrum internet subscriber and I'm getting the unable to connect error when I try to connect to the Spectrum Free Trial wifi using my Spectrum username and password. I'm using an adriod phone. I'm also unable to download the wifi profile.

    I was able to connect to the Spectrum Free Trial wifi and use it for the free 30 minutes trial but when I try to connect using my Spectrum username and password I'm not able to connect. I have called Spectrum several times and they have changed my password twice but I'm still having this issue.

  • CrouchingBruin
    CrouchingBruin Posts: 6 Participant

    @HT_Greenfield, yeah, I noticed that I had tried connecting to a "Spectrum Mobile" node originally so I tried connecting to a "Spectrum" node last Sunday and got the same fields.

  • HT_Greenfield
    HT_Greenfield Posts: 666 Contributor

    @natividad7 & @CrouchingBruin : try using your full domain-proformic username just for kicks. Mine's the same as my de facto email address. You can verify what yours is by logging on to www.spectrum.net and then hit the profile symbol at the upper right-hand corner of the account summary page and it'll show it.

  • HT_Greenfield
    HT_Greenfield Posts: 666 Contributor

    @CrouchingBruin : With reference to the end of the comment i posted the other day (i.e. “…if not also “Spectrum” and/or “SpectrumWiFi”.”), i said “if” because i wasn’t sure because i use the WiFi Profile on my iPhone but i’ve since re-read this support article and it seems clear to me now that “Spectrum Free Trial” would be the only one that can be connected to without the WiFi Profile or else a Spectrum Mobile-connected phone.

    🔗https://www.spectrum.net/support/internet/spectrum-wifi-faq

  • natividad7
    natividad7 Posts: 2 Spectator

    I followed the suggestion of using my email as username and I received the same unable to connect message.

    Is there anything else I can try? It doesn't make sense that I was able to connect to the Spectrum Free Trial wifi and use it for the free 30 minutes but when I try to connect with my Spectrum customer credentials I'm not able to connect.

    Does Spectrum have an access code I could use instead?

  • Ewa808
    Ewa808 Posts: 6 Participant

    Exactly same issue natividad7 has. Don't understand why it's taking Spectrum so long to fix this issue already.

  • Dev_Null
    Dev_Null Posts: 2 Spectator

    Hello @Renee_T

    "The Wi-Fi Profile option was causing issues with Android devices, so it was disabled."

    Could you elaborate? What sort of issues? I never experienced any nor heard of any. It's trivial to install certificates. Assuming you are provided with properly formatted, valid certs.

    If there is a "issue" with the way the app was installing them, then the obvious answer would be to just push the certificates to the users and let them install them manually on the device. The steps are few and much less complex than many of the tutorials provided in Spectrum's support pages... The users still require an authentication so no risk in allowing the user to install.. The whole purpose of the certs are only so that the device trusts Spectrum's network anyway.

    It wouldn't be so bad if this service wasn't advertised and sold as included with your subscription...even more so for those of us that have used it for years.

    I mean, I'm pretty sure I haven't noticed a drop in my bill for no longer having access to a service that is part of the plan I pay for. ;-)

  • Dev_Null
    Dev_Null Posts: 2 Spectator

    Hi @HT_Greenfield,

    Not sure what you mean "ready for prime-time". That article was about issues caused due to fixing a rather large security hole. Having the option to accept a certificate without validating it or the chain is not only a huge security risk, it also negates the entire purpose for the cert.

    This closes a security hole that had no business being in a production/release build. If companies need to test during development etc, that's what debug builds are for.

    Certificates are very powerful things. A problem with a single certificate can and has taken down large parts of the internet. Most recent was only a couple of years ago. That was only used for SSL and was a planned and known expiry and it still wreaked havoc.

    Starting to wonder if this "problem" with the profile might be that the cert doesn't have a proper or valid CoT. Perhaps self-signed? What ever CA signed the cert being used for the WPA-Enterprise network should have no problem validating it. Literally the whole purpose and proper functionality of it.

  • HT_Greenfield
    HT_Greenfield Posts: 666 Contributor
    edited March 2023

    Yeah @Dev_Null i went sideways with that one 🤣 just as i was afraid of which is why i said “don’t quote me on any of this.”

    And like i said in my follow-up update right after that, “i now think it’s probably irrelevant with Spectrum's out-of-home Wi-Fi” and i will now add that i doubt if Spectrum’s out-of-home Wi-Fi has ever used self-signing certificates, anyway. 

    And by “until the WiFi Profile for Android is ready for prime-time again at which point it should show right back up in the My Spectrum app” i was referring to Spectrum’s out-of-home Wi-Fi connection configuration profile which is available to Spectrum Internet subscribers but which has lately been temporarily unavailable for Android devices. 

    Welcome to the party, pal. Better late than never. 🙂

  • Ewa808
    Ewa808 Posts: 6 Participant

    Why is it taking Spectrum so long to fix this issue!!!!!!!!

  • Ewa808
    Ewa808 Posts: 6 Participant

    I totally agree with Sailorman, it's bs for such a huge corporation that's constantly raises rates and they haven't done anything to address this issue

This discussion has been closed.