Problem: Unable to connect to The Cloud free wifi for the first time. Browsers spin till they time our and give you an error about DNS.
Context: The Cloud is a free wifi service in the UK at various coffee shops including Cafe Nero.
According to the instructions it is as easy as 1, 2, 3 to connect and signup. Even the brochure’s Mac trouble shooting basically says, “Just connect”. But for me it never was able to connect.
Looking in the console there were errors like this: “5/27/14 1:34:47.149 PM sandboxd[463]: ([598]) ntpd(598) deny file-read-data /private/var/run/resolv.conf”
This does provide a clue, because resolve.conf is basically the file that holds a list of name servers to use for DNS.
Solution: Clear out any custom set DNS name servers in your Advanced network settings.
I had configure my DNS settings to use Google’s DNS, namely 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4. If you clear this out then The Cloud can set the name servers to what it wants them to be.