After reading the latest thread about the importance of a VPN I thought it best to share another travel technology tip. I found myself with a longer than expected layover at Love Field last month; good news: they offer wifi, bad news: free for the first 30 min only. This isn't the case for just Love Field, I've encountered similar setups from a conference hall in Tennessee all the way to a hotel in New Zealand. Fortunately these trial limits are quite weak, they rely on your device's MAC address.
Changing (or spoofing) your device's MAC address is relatively easy, utilities exist for many platforms for this very reason.
Note: Non-rooted Android and non-jailbroken iOS devices are unable to spoof their MAC addresses, however if you carry a portable router/repeater you can change its MAC address and pass your phone through it.
For Windows:
The utility I choose was TMAC (Technitium MAC Address Changer), it's freeware and seems very streamlined. This tool even worked on a modern Intel Wifi chipset which otherwise refused to accept a spoofed MAC address.
For macOS and Linux:
I don't know of a utility that works any better than what you can do through terminal.
On macOS the [interface] is typically either en0 or en1; running "ifconfig" alone will list all available cards.
On Linux the [interface] will vary between distributions, some are wlanX others are ethX. generally speaking if you are running Linux as your daily driver you don't need this guide.
In both cases [xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx] is your new MAC address. Best to edit the last 3 pairs as the first 3 are typically vendor specific, changing a single value is enough to reset the trial period. (e.g. 88:1F:A1:2E:71:A1 -> 88:1F:A1:2E:71:A2)
Note: MAC addresses are stored as hex values (0 through 9 then A through F, meaning no G-Z allowed)
Steps:
0) Once you've hit your free trial limit (minutes or MB), disconnect from the network.
1) Spoof your MAC address (best to keep a note of the original value for when you're done).
2) Reconnect to the network
3) Optional in some cases: Open a private/incognito browser window to restart a trial session. An incognito window might not be necessary but it prevents other tracking methods from possibly preventing another trial.
4) Done, rinse and repeat as needed.
This solution isn't ideal for long stays, in that case maybe just buy the access pass, but for short stays or emergencies it's a lifesaver.
Changing (or spoofing) your device's MAC address is relatively easy, utilities exist for many platforms for this very reason.
Note: Non-rooted Android and non-jailbroken iOS devices are unable to spoof their MAC addresses, however if you carry a portable router/repeater you can change its MAC address and pass your phone through it.
For Windows:
The utility I choose was TMAC (Technitium MAC Address Changer), it's freeware and seems very streamlined. This tool even worked on a modern Intel Wifi chipset which otherwise refused to accept a spoofed MAC address.
Code:
https://technitium.com/tmac/I don't know of a utility that works any better than what you can do through terminal.
Code:
sudo ifconfig [interface] ether [xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx]On Linux the [interface] will vary between distributions, some are wlanX others are ethX. generally speaking if you are running Linux as your daily driver you don't need this guide.
In both cases [xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx] is your new MAC address. Best to edit the last 3 pairs as the first 3 are typically vendor specific, changing a single value is enough to reset the trial period. (e.g. 88:1F:A1:2E:71:A1 -> 88:1F:A1:2E:71:A2)
Note: MAC addresses are stored as hex values (0 through 9 then A through F, meaning no G-Z allowed)
Steps:
0) Once you've hit your free trial limit (minutes or MB), disconnect from the network.
1) Spoof your MAC address (best to keep a note of the original value for when you're done).
2) Reconnect to the network
3) Optional in some cases: Open a private/incognito browser window to restart a trial session. An incognito window might not be necessary but it prevents other tracking methods from possibly preventing another trial.
4) Done, rinse and repeat as needed.
This solution isn't ideal for long stays, in that case maybe just buy the access pass, but for short stays or emergencies it's a lifesaver.
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