Temp mail for public Wi-Fi sign-in pages
The page that asks for your email before you can get online is mostly there to build a marketing list. A temporary address keeps you off it.
Why Wi-Fi pages ask for your email
The sign-in page you see on café, airport, hotel, and shopping centre Wi-Fi is called a captive portal. Many of them ask for an email address, sometimes with a box already ticked to receive offers. The network owner, or the company running the Wi-Fi for them, keeps the address for marketing.
The catch: you’re not online yet
Our inbox is a website, so you can’t open it until you have an internet connection. There are two easy ways around that:
- Use mobile data. Open the inbox on your phone’s data, copy the address, then connect to the Wi-Fi and paste it.
- Prepare in advance. Open the inbox before you leave home. It stays in your browser for 24 hours, so the address is ready when you need it.
Many Wi-Fi pages never send an email at all. They just want an address that looks real. If one does send a confirmation link, you’ll need to be online to open it, which usually means using mobile data or the limited access some portals allow before you confirm.
Untick the boxes
Look for pre-ticked boxes about newsletters or partner offers and untick them. Read what you are agreeing to. Some portals ask for more than an email, such as your phone number or a social media login. You can usually skip those or choose another network.
Staying safe on public Wi-Fi
- Check you are joining the network the venue actually runs. Ask staff for its exact name.
- Stick to sites that use HTTPS, which almost all do now. Your browser warns you if one doesn’t.
- Avoid logging in to your bank or doing anything sensitive. Use mobile data for that.
- Turn off automatic joining of open networks on your phone and laptop.
- Consider a VPN if you use public Wi-Fi often. It hides your traffic from the network, though the VPN company can see it instead.