Windows 10: Getting around “Buy Wi-Fi” on membership networks

So I found a nice “feature” in Windows 10 that really annoys the crap out of me. It is the buy Wi-Fi feature. It seems like it might be a nice feature at times, like when you are somewhere, cannot find free Wi-Fi (rare) and need to connect to get some business done.

The problem with the feature is networks you have membership on, that Microsoft has contracted with, default to “buy wi-fi”, as in the follow capture

That’s right, with a Marriott Platinum status, sitting in a room in the hotel, the default is to buy Internet. This is really irritating.

Getting On Without Paying (This case “paying twice”)

So this really bugged me until I got to playing with it. If the Network is one you should be able to get on, you can click on the network and the following pops up. Click on the link circled below:

Once you click “other options from the provider”, the logon screen for the hotel appears. In this case, it shows I am still connected from last night. The network will boot me off in a bit.

If you select view services, you will then see your purchase options for the network.

And there is one more caveat. To get on the network, if you don’t know this already, you have to download the Windows 10 Wi-Fi app from the Microsoft Store just to see the options. Until you download the app, you don’t even have the option to explore other options with the provider.

Personally, I think this is a fail and Microsoft needs to rethink. It would be better, in my opinion to have “other options” be the buy option, as this irritates the crap out of users. Oh, wait, Windows is the only option when you have certain careers?

Peace and Grace,
Greg