Editing Captive portal (section)

{{Short description|Web page displayed to new users of a network}}
[[File:Captive Portal.png|thumb|An example of a captive web portal used to log onto a restricted network.]]
A '''captive portal''' is a web page accessed with a [[web browser]] that is displayed to newly connected users of a [[Wi-Fi]] or wired network before they are granted broader access to network resources. Captive portals are commonly used to present a landing or log-in page which may require [[authentication]], [[Payment gateway|payment]], acceptance of an [[end-user license agreement]]/[[acceptable use policy]], survey completion, or other valid credentials that both the host and user agree to adhere by.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is a captive portal? – TechTarget Definition |url=https://www.techtarget.com/searchmobilecomputing/definition/captive-portal |access-date=2023-12-19 |website=Mobile Computing |language=en}}</ref> Captive portals are used for a broad range of mobile and pedestrian broadband services – including cable and commercially provided Wi-Fi and home hotspots. A captive portal can also be used to provide access to enterprise or residential wired networks, such as apartment houses, hotel rooms, and business centers.

The captive portal is presented to the client and is stored either at the [[Gateway (computer networking)|gateway]] or on a [[web server]] hosting the web page. Depending on the feature set of the gateway, websites or [[TCP ports]] can be allow-listed so that the user would not have to interact with the captive portal in order to use them. The [[MAC address]] of attached clients can also be used to bypass the login process for specified devices.

[[WISPr]] refers to this web browser-based authentication method as the Universal Access Method (UAM).<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Wiederkehr |first=Patrick |date=2009 |title=Approaches for simplified hotspot logins with Wi-Fi devices |publisher=ETH, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Computer Science Department |url=https://www.research-collection.ethz.ch/handle/20.500.11850/151416 |language=en |doi=10.3929/ethz-a-005899210 |type=Master Thesis |access-date=2022-11-20 |archive-date=2022-11-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120094427/https://www.research-collection.ethz.ch/handle/20.500.11850/151416 |url-status=live }}</ref>