I am trying to use my travel router on an MSC Cruise. It is the GLinet opal. I connect my phone to the ship hotspot. Then I use a browser to login to my paid account. Then I check the settings on the connection and find that the ship has assigned my device a random MAC, or that is what i think has happened. Then I use the MAC Clone feature using the assigned MAC. I also tried this with mu phone’s actual MAC. When i connect router to the MSC hotspot, it is still not connected to the Internet. What do I do,?
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What I do in these situations is:
1 Join router to wifi (repeater mode)
2 Connect device (phone, laptop, whatever) to router
3 Connect to captive portal using device through the router
3 Enter credentials
It usually works fine, the only time I mess around with MAC spoofing is to get around bandwidth limits, although this probably wouldn’t apply in your case.
Hope this helps!
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2Lame give a generic answer to OP question. My experience on MSC magnifica was a pain. After trying to connect to WiFi and wait for captive portal page for hours I gave up and use my phone to connect to WiFi then use the clone MAC address feature from router. The router says it connected then but I was unable to surf the internet. However my work laptop was able to connect using the vpn. Strange.
Because, I guess, your work laptop will utilise some App for it. These apps are working different.
I can’t get this to work at all.
Meaning even with cloning it won’t work
Maybe your devices (phones) uses MAC randomisation. When you connect to new WiFi new MAC generated. If you connect to your GL router and use “clone” option your router clones another MAC.
Solution:
Use “Custom” option and enter MAC from menu with main network you are connecting to. On many devices it can be seen by click on main network to which you want to connect router.
Try this out. Hope it will help!
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Admittedly, I’ve never been on one of these cruises (and not likely to, either - I can’t imagine a worse way to spend a holiday) but I was merely explaining what works for me in a similar situation.
Sounds to me like it was working all along, you just didn’t realise it.
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Yup tried that as well…
Tried that first to ensure Randomization wasn’t going to screw it up
This is complicated in some situations that will vary depending on network design (WiFi cative portal). Administrators are using sophisticated appliance across these networks that will render a travel router useless. MSC Magnifica is one of them.
There is always a way. Useless is overstating things. At the end of the day it is a cat and mouse game and the mice have to get smarter than the cat.
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I agree with you packetmonkey 
ChatGPT advic
1. Tethering Through a Smartphone
- Purpose: To use a smartphone as a Wi-Fi adapter, potentially bypassing restrictions applied to known router MAC addresses.
- Setup: Connect your OpenWRT router to a smartphone via USB and enable USB tethering on the phone. Configure the router to use the tethered connection as its WAN link.
3. Wireless Client Mode
Configure your router to operate in Wireless Client Mode, effectively turning it into a Wi-Fi adapter for your other devices. This setup makes it appear as though your devices are connecting directly to the cruise ship's Wi-Fi, potentially avoiding detection as a separate network device.
# Example configuration for Wireless Client Mode
uci set wireless.@wifi-iface[1].mode=sta
uci set wireless.@wifi-iface[1].ssid='CruiseShipWiFi'
uci set wireless.@wifi-iface[1].key='password'
uci commit wireless
wifi down
wifi up
4. DHCP Client ID Spoofing
Some networks use DHCP client IDs to track and restrict devices. You can spoof the DHCP client ID to mimic a permitted device.
# Edit /etc/config/dhcp
config dhcp 'lan'
option interface 'lan'
option start '100'
option limit '150'
option leasetime '12h'
option dhcp_option '119,192.168.1.1'
option dhcp_option '252,\nhttp://192.168.1.1\n/'
# Add this line to spoof the client ID
option dhcp_option '61,01:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx'
Replace xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx with the desired client ID, typically derived from a valid MAC address.
5. Static Routes and IP Addresses
Manually configuring static routes and IP addresses can sometimes help navigate around restrictive network policies. Assign your router a static IP address that falls within the cruise ship's subnet but outside its DHCP range to avoid conflicts.
# Example static IP configuration
uci set network.lan.ipaddr='192.168.1.2' # Adjust based on the cruise ship's network
uci set network.lan.netmask='255.255.255.0'
uci commit network
/etc/init.d/network restart
I am currently on the MSC Seashore and also am unable to get AX3000 to work. I have tried updating firmware, downgrading firmware, making the MAC address the same as the device registered with their wifi, but it will not load the msc wifi login page (login.mscwifi.com). I emailed GL-INET support, and they offered several additional ways to get this to work, but those have not had positive results either. I am beginning to think MSC has figured out how to block these travel routers so they can not be used. I am also not able to make my phone or laptop a hotspot either.
I tried to use an iphone 14 and a windows 11 laptop to get this to work, neither worked.
Anyone have any suggestions that may work? I know others have had problems specifically with MSC cruises, but had much better success on other cruise lines.
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Did you ever get a resolution????
I bought modem specifically for this. I get on in 2 week
I have to use laptop for about a hour a day during week. Rest of time I just want to use my phone (honestly and ipad but we will leave that for now) All other cruise lines allow to just move the one device around ... not good ole MSC, this is my second chance I'm giving them and I'm so not impressed 85 cruises and never had such a bad experience leading up to trip
Could it be anything to do with TTL settings?
I was unable to get the router to login to the mscwifi.com. Now I am not tech expert so its possible someone with more knowledge in networking or patience could find a way to make it work. I will say I did follow all of the suggestions provided by GL-INET support team, and still could not get the router to connect with the ships wifi system.
I did read on other forums if you have an android phone you can login to the internet with that then connect from phone to router using tether option, but I did not have an android phone so I could not try that option.
Best of luck and please let me know if you get it to work and/or find a solution.
I’ve exactly the same issue. I’m in a MSC cruise (grandiosa) in my case.
Wireless network is an Aruba network. First time you log in, the system create some profiling so it’s able to identify the device. (Resolution keyboard and many other stuff )
I’ve tried to spoof the MAC address with no luck, and I’ve detected that at some point with my laptop (the device originally signed it was an iPhone ) it sends me to a website saying that some strange behavior detected on my device. So the system caught me.
My device glinet is routing the traffic from private lan 192.168.7.x and in the banned page it shows my private lan. So I dunno how is able to detect what I’m doing.
I’ve tried to connect with my phone, then disconnect. And mimetize all the parameters of my phone with the glinet, ip mask dns… but it doesn’t work either.
Will try to check the ttl trick if it works, but by now all my tries have not work at all.
When I try some stuff I’m convinced that glinet gets blacklisted, but when I connect again my phone works again, which is curious.
Only one day left. If I’m able to make it work I’ll post the procedure
This is exactly what I think that is happening.
The ClearPass Device Profiler is a ClearPass Policy Manager module that automatically classifies endpoints using attributes obtained from software components called Collectors.
ClearPass Device Profiler associates an endpoint with a specific user or location and offers an efficient and accurate way to differentiate access by endpoint type (for example, a laptop or tablet).
More information of identifying unique device