Connecting your machine to Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is free and convenient when it works. In venues it often does not, for reasons that have nothing to do with your machine.

Connecting

1. Open the machine's settings from the screen and find the network or Wi-Fi section.
2. Select the network and enter the password exactly, watching for case. Most failed connections are a mistyped password.
3. Wait for the machine to report a connection, then confirm it appears as online in the platform. The machine showing a Wi-Fi icon is not the same as the machine reaching us.

When it connects but still shows offline

This is the common case, and it means the machine joined the local network but cannot reach the outside world. Almost always the venue's network is doing something.

• Captive portals. Hotel, gym, cafe and guest networks often require accepting terms on a web page before traffic flows. A vending machine cannot tick that box. You need a network without a portal.
• Client isolation and guest VLANs, which are common on guest Wi-Fi and may block the traffic the machine needs.
• Firewall rules on corporate networks. The IT department can allow the machine, but you will need to ask, and it will take longer than you want.
• Weak signal. A machine is a large metal box and it sits on the floor, which is close to the worst possible position for an antenna.

Check the signal honestly

Stand where the machine stands — not where you are standing, which is usually a foot higher and several feet away — and check the signal on your phone. If your phone struggles there, the machine will struggle more.

When to give up on Wi-Fi

If a venue's Wi-Fi requires a portal, changes its password periodically, or is run by an IT department that has to approve every device, use cellular instead. The monthly cost of a SIM is far less than one wasted trip to a site, and a machine that drops offline every few weeks will cost you several.