Google Play Store blocked on some wifi connections

[silverfang77]

I've noticed lately that when I'm on some wifi networks (McDonald's and Starbucks), that everything else will load properly (websites, email, apps, etc.). However, if I try to access the Google Play Store to check for app updates, it will be blocked.

On McD's wifi, the Play Store won't log in at all. On Starbucks, it will log in, but won't load the My Apps page.

Does this happen to anyone else? Do these establishments specifically target the Play Store for blocking to prevent their networks from being flooded?

Thank you.

 

[cr6]

I would imagine some public WiFi establishments block the downloading of ANY material simply to keep folks from taking advantage of and/or clogging their network. You might try downloading something else from another source to verify this. I'll admit I don't use WiFi all that often so I may be completely off base here, but that's what I'm thinking.
Hopefully someone else can give you their input. Good luck!

S5 tap'n

 

[silverfang77]

Ok. I'll try on the Amazon store.

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[Sajo]

I agree completely with everything @cr6 posted, excellent points to consider. I wanted to share my experience with the Play Store and WiFi. My wife's phone and both kids phones are on 2GB plans so I have them set to always connect to home WiFi automatically. 99% of the time everything is fine. Once in a while their Play Store app will either not let them download (just spins forever like it's trying to but never does) or will not open the My Apps area. I can't explain it and it makes no sense to me but have seen it a few times. If they switch to 4G whatever they were trying to download flies right on through. It makes no sense why it happens, a good connection should be a good connection regardless of the type. When it has happened to them, all other apps and functions worked fine on the same WiFi connection. If your issue happens at all public WiFi spots, probably what cr6 said. If it only happens occasionally, there might be a glitch with the Play Store sometimes....when connected via WiFi.

 

[silverfang77]

@sajokaz Your symptoms are exactly what I experience at these locations. I'll have to try the Amazon App Store experiment next time I'm on a business' wifi network and see what happens.

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[Jonny Kansas]

The only time I've experienced anything like this is when I've turned wifi on and then jumped right into the Play Store as it's connecting. Even then, if I back out and go back in, it loads up and downloads just fine. I always toggle wifi off when I leave the house, because I don't want to be jumping onto unsecured networks that I don't know/trust personally, and sometimes I get ahead of myself when I first get home and turn it back on.

Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if the issue is what cr6 describes. I know there's a hospital in my area that blocks sites like xboxlive.com and others on their public wifi. It's strange what and why some places block what they do, but it's a pretty safe bet that they'd block things that are going to use up extra bandwidth.

I'm not really sure how blocking just the Play Store would work on an access point, but I suppose there's got to be an underlying domain/IP that your device connects to to access it. If that's the case, successfully downloading an app using the Amazon App store wouldn't mean that they're not blocking you from downloading apps. It would just mean that they haven't blocked that on their end. So, basically, it's not that simple to narrow down what's going on without knowing the setup of the network(s) in question.

However, like Sajokaz said, if it's always happening at those locations, safe bet is that they've blocked it. If it's not consistently blocking, there's a good chance that there's some hiccup in your Play Store app or something. I realize that's a lot of rambling that doesn't really answer your question, but just thought I'd throw a bit more info out there.

One thing you could try would be to download a VPN app and connect through that. That spoofs your IP to make it appear that you're connecting to the internet from elsewhere. It also protects you from would-be hackers, because they won't see you on that open network since you're technically connected to the 'net through a Virtual Private Network. This is a good idea on an unsecured wifi connection no matter what to keep your data more secure. The same trick has been used by some to trick Netflix into believing they're in another country, allowing them to view content that isn't supposed to be available in their region.

If you can download using a VPN, I'd say they're definitely blocking downloads.

 

[silverfang77]

I am connected through a VPN.

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[Jonny Kansas]

Hmm... Either it doesn't work like I thought it should or it's you Play Store app then.

Sent from my Note 4

 

[silverfang77]

Guess I'll have to hope for an update.

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[Sajo]

Guess I'll have to hope for an update.

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Just curious, what phone are you using? Since this doesn't happen all the time to everyone it might be specific to a certain model or models of phones. Like I had posted....99% of the time my phones work great on WiFi, but every once in a while the Play Store app does just what you described. Then it starts working again all by itself eventually.

 

[silverfang77]

Galaxy Note Edge.

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