well, after some time, i think the
problem was resolved with two possible contributing factors:
1: DHCP configuration!
as discussed elsewhere, if eth0 (ethernet nic) recieves dhcp client attention but never has an IP assigned by a DHCP server, it will stall the DHCP client, preventing other nics (eth1 = wireless in my case) from recieving an IP address. fix number one:
as su take down all eth nics, leaving all down EXCEPT the wireless (bring it back up). for my notebook that was:
Code:
su
ifdown eth1
ifdown eth0
ifup eth1
This got the computer to make an IP assignment from the wireless provider.
2: Certificates and Validation
using firefox, I went to
"Preferences > Advanced" and set:
A.
Certificates > Client Certificate Autorization to "Ask every time,"
B.
Validation > OCSP to "Use OCSP to validate only certificates that specify an OCSP service URL".
then i restarted the browser and was able to redirect, recieve certificate, etc to pay for wireless. Not sure on #2 whether the certificate and OCSP settings are right or even necessary (i don't understand the authentication process here), but these settings seemed to get things working for me with the above ISP. Perhaps someone else could bring a bit more light to the subject if so inclined.
Suggestion to others: if you're traveling to unknown areas and going to be using wireless, get very familiar with setting wireless nics before departure if possible. it will make any potential problems much less painful.
Cheers
