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Question

Block Specific WiFi Network on iPad?

Apr 3, 2015 12:03AM PDT

I'm searching high and low for a solution and coming up short.

I have 30+ iPads used in a campus library. Our campus has two wireless networks. One is an unsecured guest network and the other is secured. We need the iPads to connect to the secured network because proxy services are blocked on the guest network, and our library uses proxy links to connect to databases.

If at all possible, I need to block the open guest network so the iPads will always connect to the secured network. The "forget" option isn't sufficient, as the network is remembered again as soon as a patron connects to it.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Looks like a "desired feature."
Apr 3, 2015 3:42AM PDT
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6073498 wrote it well. These are considered as they put it "You can't lock settings iOS is still designed as user owned".

Call Apple and see if this area has changed but I see this happen a lot. That is, folk buy devices that are meant for general use and then try to impose restrictions later. They often get agitated that a PC is a Personal Computer meant to do what ever the person using it wants it to do!

In the meantime lock down that open network.
Bob
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Thanks
Apr 6, 2015 10:30PM PDT

Thanks for the link. I'd found some solutions that involved pushing an SSID and info using Apple Configuration, which we use to lock out other features, but I assume we'd have the same problem as soon as the secured network stutters, and the patrons connect to the open network.

We have no control over the open network, as both networks are campus-wide for our university, with the guest being a visitor courtesy, and the other requiring a university login. The best solution so far, as your link suggested, is to "impose some type of controls on your internal wi-fi networks," for which I'm thinking MAC filtering if our IT department is willing. It's not an ideal configuration, but it should accomplish what we need to happen.

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Answer
As Bob said, it's usually done on the AP/router side
Apr 3, 2015 7:49AM PDT

If you are a reference librarian (etc.), ask your IT colleagues to refer you to a listserv that deals with iPads in Academic or Public libraries. Your solution is there, but Bob nailed it. Not much you can do on the iPad side.

FWIW, most libraries I deal with don't leave networks open (literally) anymore. They require a 'jump page' (that opens in Safari) where you hop through/fill out a small registration form/etc.

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iPad
Apr 6, 2015 2:52AM PDT

My kids have the school network locked down and the guest network is practically unusable because of the filters being used on that network. I just use the cell service to get around it.

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I completely understand, however...
Apr 6, 2015 6:33AM PDT

...some guest networks are there really just as a courtesy, and not intended to replace (obviously) more solid home or corporate wifi networks. The public schools truly would like to minimize who needs to be on their network at all times.

OTOH, you can design those 'jump' pages to work effectively, without so many filters.