Last year I wrote about O2 giving UK-based iPhone users free access to BT Openzone Wi-Fi hotspots but the last few times I’ve tried to connect all I’ve managed to hook up to is a login page.
I’ll be spending most of the next couple of days at Microsoft’s customer and partner launches for Windows 7 and, even though I have the option of Vodafone 3G access from my netbook, I thought I’d investigate further and at least give myself another connectivity option via the iPhone (at another recent event I found that O2’s 3G coverage is virtually non-existent inside the hospitality suite at Wembley Stadium so Wi-Fi would be a major step forward and I know it works in the Hilton a couple of hundred yards away…).
This is what you need to do in order to get an iPhone hooked up to BT Openzone if you’re presented with the BT Openzone login screen:
- Select a service provider of O2 from the Openzone login prompt (no need to enter a username).
- When prompted, enter your phone number and wait for registration to complete.
- If, like me, you’ve had multiple iPhones on your account (i.e. you have upgraded or had warranty replacements), then you may need to send an SMS message to 2121 containing the word
WiFiand wait up to an hour (although, in practice, I didn’t find that it took that long).
After this, you should be able to connect to the ‘net from your iPhone over Wi-Fi. Right, let’s hope Steve Ballmer doesn’t spot me using the iPhone…