macbook air wont conect to public wifi unless it was connected to a secure network?

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macbook air wont conect to public wifi unless it was connected to a secure network?

We have to turn off WiFi (Secure network) to our teenagers 2021 MBA at home, when she is not using it for homework. She claims we need to allow access prior to her leaving the house, so it will connect to the schools public WiFi (unsecured network). She claims (In 1000 words of tech jargon) that, “If its not connected to a secure network when she leaves the house, it won’t connect to the schools network when she gets there”. She claims its something new with the new MBA’s. I may not be up to date on all things tech related, but this sounds fishy. Shouldn’t all Mac’s, regardless of how new/old connect to an unsecured, public network, like a school?

MacBook Air

Posted on Sep 7, 2021 4:57 PM

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Answer 1

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TheLittles

Level 10

195,711 points

Sep 7, 2021 5:21 PM in response to Packagemule

Packagemule Said:

"macbook air wont conect to public wifi unless it was connected to a secure network?: [...]Shouldn’t all Mac’s, regardless of how new/old connect to an unsecured, public network, like a school?"

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Encryption is the Culprit:

The MBA is getting this message because the school's router is using WPA2 for their router's encryption protocol, which is no longer secure. So, the Web Master either has to reconfigure the router's settings to be using WPA3, or upgrade to a new router that supports WPA3. Older devices may not support WPA3. So, their router would have to have WPA2/WPA3 open for use.

Contact the Web Master:

Without getting too technical here, have them speak to the Web Master(the person(s) one who manage and configure the network).

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macbook air wont conect to public wifi unless it was connected to a secure network?

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