What is a Captive Portal?¶

A Captive Portal presents users with a login page that automatically opens after initially connecting to the Wi-Fi. Users must accept the terms of use before accessing the school's or company's Wi-Fi network. In some cases, the Captive Portal may require a username and password. Using a Captive Portal gives schools or hotels greater control over their bandwidth while offering customizable limits on how long users can remain connected to the network.

Captive Portal in use at a school

Can EZCast Pro log in to a Captive Portal?¶

Since a Captive Portal requires manual entry of login credentials, EZCast Pro cannot log in to a Captive Portal. However, it is possible to integrate EZCast Pro into your infrastructure by creating a MAC Authentication exception on your router or firewall, bypassing this step.

The MAC address of the EZCast Pro Dongle II can be found in the About the Device section within the Advanced Settings function:

MAC Address in About Section

A MAC address is preferable to using an IP address because it does not change. Please contact your IT department to whitelist the EZCast Pro Dongle II's MAC address.

Disabling Direct Connection¶

To prevent the EZCast Pro Dongle II from giving users access to your network without first logging in via the Captive Portal, set the connection mode to Via Router Only.

Connection - Via Router Only

For more information about EZCast Pro II's network interfaces, see the Connection section in Advanced Settings.

With the Via Router Only setting, the EZCast Pro Dongle II's access point is disabled, and you can only connect to the dongle through your router. The SSID and password are grayed out, and the router-assigned IP address or the dongle's static IP address is displayed on the homepage (bottom left), as shown below:

For Miracast, despite the above setting, it always establishes a direct Miracast connection (P2P) as an additional Wi-Fi connection solely for screen transmission. For internet content, the device uses its existing or last-connected Wi-Fi connection, which requires the user to have logged in via the Captive Portal. The Miracast protocol can even be disabled if desired.