Connecting to public wifi hotspots

[Tom H]

On Sat, Feb 16, 2013 at 8:49 PM, JD <jd1008 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Ubuntu 12.10.
> Latest updates as of 2 weeks ago.
> Lost access to internet at home and so, I finally decided
> to take it to a public hotspot to update ubuntu.
>
> When I click on the NetworkManager (henceforth NM), icon I select the SSID
> that is open (usually, at&t wifi, or some other nearby hotspot
> which is also open).
>
> NM does indeed connect, sets up the default route and populates
> /etc/resolv.conf and assigns an ip address to my wifi interface wlan0.
>
> However, when I fire up Firefox, I expected it to take me to the local
> shop's login  (accept these blah blah blah agreement...etc).
> Well, firefox only fails! It does not seem to display that local provider's
> login page, and gives me the error page.
>
> When I boot into Win7, it connects to these spots without any problems.
>
> So, anyone know what the secret trick is?

Are you populating resolv.conf with the hotspot's dns settings?

Are you using IE on Win7?