How to join a guest/free wifi on Mac

If you need to join a free WiFi (like the Dunedin Hospital - Southern DHB) you may get a bit annoyed when trying with a Mac because the “acceptance screen” doesn’t show up.

There’s a wee trick to this however. Once you’ve selected the WiFi network, wait a couple of minutes then direct your browser to: http://captive.apple.com/

If this does not bring up the “Yes pls I accept your terms” screen (aka “acceptance screen”), go to System Preferences, Network, find your wireless connection.

Click the advanced button.

Choose the DNS tab.

You want to remove it:

Click OK. Go back to the captive.apple.com page and refresh. Voilà!