FAQ-ENGLISH

FAQ in English

Connecting to the network

What equipment do I need?

You require a laptop or smartphone equipped with a wireless network card (Wifi / 802.11b/g/n). Most recently purchased laptops have one integrated. If this isn’t the case, you can buy a 802.11 USB adapter that can be inserted into your laptop’s USB slot for between $30 and $100.

If possible, we recommend you to use an adapter compatible with 802.11n networks.

In fact, any device with a wifi adapter, and a standard Internet browser would be able to connect.

The following steps assume that you know how to use the wireless network functions of your device.

And it’s free?
Thanks to our partners (coffee shop owners, merchant associations, community centres, etc.) and to the work of many volunteers, access to the Île Sans Fil’s wireless network is completely free. Île Sans Fil is a non-profit community organisation dedicated to promoting free wireless Internet access in Montreal, and to using technology to keep Montrealers interconnected. Our free public wireless access point maintenance program is one way in which we’ve chosen to accomplish these goals.

Finding an access point
Visit one of our hotspots (see map of access points on the île sans fil website) and use your wireless network software to locate our network. Our network is called www.ilesansfil.org. Once you connect to our signal, your computer should automatically detect the right parameters.
Once connected, open your browser. You will be automatically redirected to the Île Sans Fil’s secure webpage. Click the “connect” button to start browsing.
Once the connection is authenticated, you can use any type of Internet service (SSH, FTP, POP3, etc.)

Please note that for reasons out of our control, certain VPN-based applications will not work (example : back to my mac).

 

Connecting to the wireless network
1. Visit a public location served by the Ile Sans Fil network: the map of access points is available at www.ilesansfil.org, in the top right corner
2. Your computer should automatically locate the wireless SSID network called: www.ilesansfil.org – Location Name
3. Open your Internet browser. You should be automatically redirected to Île Sans Fil’s authentification page.
4. Click the “connect” button

Do I have to create an account?
No.
As of Fall 2011, it is no longer necessary to create an account to access Ile Sans Fil. Simply follow the steps described above.

Troubleshooting

 

I get “Access denied” when I try to connect ot the network
You may get this error if you have clicked “Connect” more than once. This message may be misleading, it’s possible that you are actually connected to the network. Try visiting another webpage. If you are not connected, you will be redirected to the login page. If you are connected, great!

I get disconnected every two minutes. I have to re-enter my login information every time.
Have you exceeded your 7-day 10GB/access point and 20GB network data allotments?
Île sans fil offers free Internet acess provided by the owner of the location where you are accessing the service. In order to avoid abuse of the service, we limit use to 10GB per access point and 20GB on the network as a whole per 7-day period.
If you have reached your data allotment limit on a given access point, you may visit another access point to use your remaining bandwith. Your data consumption is calculated as the total of data used during the last 7 days; waiting a few days will allow you to drop below your limit and you will be able to resume browsing with no problem.

I don’t seemed to have downloaded very much. Why have I reached my limit?
Data consumption is calculated based on all traffic visiting your computer.
Do you have a P2P application running in the background? Disactivate it when visiting one of our access points since all bandwith that you use counts!

Have you lent your computer to someone? If so, that person may have used your total allotment on the Île Sans Fil network.

I haven’t exceeded my limit, however, I am disconnected every 20 minutes. I have to click the “connect” button on the homepage again.
In order to maintain availability of our resources and to discourage abuse, our system disconnects inactive users after 20 minutes. A user is considered to be inactive if no Internet requests are made (example: clicking a link).
If you are reading an email or working offline (on a document, for example) for more than 20 minutes, the system will as you to click on “connect’ the next time you try to make an Internet request.

I can’t connect with my iPad, after entering my username and passport everything freezes up.
A problem with iPad versions 3.2.1, 3.2.2 and 4.2 freezes our homepage if the automatic completion option of Safari is activated. To disactivate it, go to Settings->Safari and disable automatic passwords.

I can’t connect with my Mac, the homepage never appears. My mac uses the Apple “Lion” 10.7.2 operating system

Mac users were experiencing a problem with the Lion 10.7.2 version of Mac OS. Apple had integrated functions that prevented many sites from working. This problem was not only affecting Île Sans Fil.

Updates from 10.7.4 solve this problem. Please update your Mac os to the lastest version. (get information about this procedure here : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1338 )
If you want to know your version of Mac Os, From the Apple menu (upper left menu), select About This Mac.

For your information, here is the info about how to get around the problem:

- Install Firefox
- Once the Île Sans Fil authentification page attemps to launch, close it, relaunch Firefox and stop the page from loading (the x next to the address bar)
- In the address bar, there should be a web address similar to: httpS://auth.ilesansfil.org/……
Remove le S from “httpS”, and press Enter to continue loading the page.
- The authentification page should appear. Click “connect” to access the Internet.
If the page doesn’t appear, copy/paste the following address into your browser:

http://auth.ilesansfil.org/login

The authentification page appears, but there is no “connect” button !
When this problem occurs, you may also see that the right menu is moved on the left side of the page

Solution : please verify that Javascript is activated on your web browser

My problen doesn’t appear in the FAQ
You may write to is at “tech at ilesansfil.org” or use our online form to ask us questions. For help requests, please indicate the location from which you are trying to connect as well as as much detailed information as possible about the device and browser that you are using.
If you notice a general problem with an access point, please let us know as it will help us provide you with better support.