Frustrating tech issue
For the last several weeks I've had a tech issue that I don't understand, and it's frustrating me.
We have corporate WiFi in the office, which is usually convenient. It means you don't need to use your personal data plan to stream music and all that. But in the last couple of years it's been increasingly locked down:
- I can no longer use Discord on the network, so it doesn't work on my phone either (this has been an issue for well over a year)
- I can't use the web version of Telegram on my laptop, but it seems to be OK for the app on my phone, but I'm not entirely sure
- In the last 6 months the company blocked every LLM except for Copilot, so I can't use ChatGPT or Gemini on my phone
For those reasons at least, I'd rather keep WiFi turned off. Previously, I found a solution that worked perfectly. I used Samsung's Modes & Routines app to set up a routine where when I'm at work, WiFi is turned off. It worked very well. Until...
My wife gifted me one of those wireless Android Auto/Apple CarPlay adapters for people who have cars without built-in wireless connections. Previously I had to connect my phone via cable to use Android Auto. I hadn't been able to test it out until the beginning of January, and there was an interesting wrinkle: my 'work' profile would turn off my WiFi connection when I was within a few hundred metres of the office. If I was using Android Auto it would shut that off on me. It took me a bit to realize that's why it was happening, but once I did, I disabled the "turn wifi off" part of my work profile.
And then one day...my phone connected to our Corporate WiFi. I changed my password a long time since I last connected to WiFi, so I figured that it should not have connected. But connect it did, without even telling me I needed to update my password. OK, so I hit 'forget network' and moved on. It happened again the next day! Despite forgetting the network, it re-connected. I added an extra step - un-toggling "auto re-connect" first, and THEN forgetting the network.
But just like Fred Penner's cat, it came back the very next day. I reduced the geographic range of my Routine and added back the WiFi toggle action, but the one problem with that is when I disconnect from Android Auto when I pull into the parking lot (when the WiFi turns off), it's able to turn my WiFi back on to re-connect, which then brings me back to connecting to the building WiFi.
Yesterday I added a new condition to the routine - when my car's Bluetooth is not connected AND when I'm at the office. It didn't seem to work this morning. So, I had the idea this morning to try something different for tomorrow:
IF Arriving at office location
THEN
- Keep your phone unlocked
- Wait before next action - 10:00
- Wi-Fi: Off
I originally set the wait command to 5 minutes but thought a 10-minute buffer is more than enough. That gives me time to find a parking space, get out of the car, get all my gear settled at my desk, and get started with my day. If all goes according to plan, I shouldn't ever notice I'm connected to corporate WiFi.
Wish me luck.