I can certainly understand the frustration. It's clear to me, after a week of trying to figure this out that not everyone's connection problem was the same as mine, but I do think that what I found  was something that should have been near the top of the list in troubleshooting steps. It was hands-down one thing that would stop all internet connectivity under some circumstances..but would work in others...and would never be obvious to most people--especially considering the info below: Tonight I went back to a different Starbuck's to double-check that it was now working at all of them. At this Starbuck's---which I'd been to before---I still got the 'limited' connectivity. Lo and behold, the network IP4 setting still had the faulty 192.168.1.254 DNS entry, with the check box to "use the following DNS server address", though I know I'd deleted it since things were now working at the other Starbuck's. I removed it, but when I went back and reconnected it still wouldn't connect...and the DNS entry seemed to have reappeared. I tried connecting and reconnecting, but it wouldn't get past limited connectivity.  Then it hit me...   What I suspect now might be a problem is that if you ever tried to connect to the router at a location, and either remembered it or choose to "connect automatically", it must be storing the settings for that particular network/wi-fi connection. It seems logical in hindsight, but it had not occurred to me that each wi-fi connection you connect to (Starbucks..the book store..etc.) may save whatever network attributes you had set in there at the start, and if they're wrong, you're, well, dazed and confused to put it mildly. I think that's why my faulty DNS entry was still in there for this location. So, I finally completely deleted the connection for this Starbucks (i.e. choose 'forget this network' from the wi-fi list) and let it be re-detected cleanly. Now when I chose to connect...bingo! Got through to the Starbuck's T&C page and could finally authenticate and go on. To restate my experience: I'd tried all the 'advanced' settings changes that so many Dell 'Rockstars' kept telling everyone to change--I changed power settings, strict H, 802.11b, 2300, MAIN, AUX, aggressive, broader compatibility, blah, blah..changed the back, the back again. I reinstalled drivers, borrowed drivers from old Win 7 batches, and even tried some odd Broadcom drivers. Not one of those things made any difference, but not one rockstar every suggested being sure you don't have a bad DNS server IP in there. (Fwiw...I did finally settle on the WLAN 1708 driver, which worked and is running in there now, though I think the original 1704 driver probably was working all along.) The steps:1) Connect to the router showing 'Limited' connectivity...then..2) Right-click the wi-fi icon in the Windows tray (next to the battery icon) and choose "Open Network and Sharing Center.3) Double-click the name of wi-fi connection on the right (in blue, next to the little green wi-fi bars.)4) Click 'Properties'..4) Scroll down and double-click on "Internet Connection Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)5) At the bottom, select ""Obtain DNS Server Address Automatically"....click "OK" and you're done.You'll likely have been disconnected anyway, but best to just "Forget this Network" for this connection and let it be re-detected, and reconnect from scratch. Worked for me and I can now connect everywhere. Best of luck.. JT
I've spent days trying to resolve this issue on this laptop. I purchased it as a Christmas gift for my son, only to find that it's got a problem with wifi connectivity. What's crazy though is that it connects perfectly to my home router, and will connect perfectly at two different coffee shops/bakeries I've used for testing yesterday. But at a local Starbucks and at my sons work location (which is also a public hotspot) it only shows a 'limited' connection, and you get no Internet access. I was also told that it could see and connect to his iPhone in 'hotspot' mode or whatever, but couldn't get to the Internet thru that either. Basics: Inspiron 15 (3421), Windows 8 x64 clean install, and all current Dell drivers installed (from the Dell site.) Fwiw, I have a long tech background with computers and laptops, so I have no problem getting into and checking or resetting things. As I said, it has all the latest Dell drivers for everything on it, including the most current (as of today) wireless 1704 driver. Also, I've read numerous forum posts by others with similar problems, so I've seen many of the things suggested to try to fix wifi connectivity issues (i.e. set it to maximum performance, don't let the system turn it off, etc.) I'm still checking various posts for others ideas, but it's frustrating to have it working here at home and have to run up to a Starbuck to see if it's fixed or still flaky.    Even so, it seems to me that the evidence that it connects perfectly to some hotspot routers and my AT&T wifi router at home makes it pretty clear the hardware is fine. It does see all the hotspot routers and lists their names and it can/does connect and get an IP (verified via 'ipconfig /all'). So I think the laptop/wlan hardware is functional, but there's something wrong with the drivers or some setting that is enabled or disabled, or set wrong, that just doesn't communicate properly with some of the generic hotspot routers or configurations...like the 'Google Starbucks' hotspot down the street. I think by now Dell must have a very good idea what the problem is, even if they aren't widely publicizing it for whatever reason. But I'd like to know what could make this thing not connect to some very public hotspot routers, and be just fine connecting to others. It has to be something set in the laptop that's making it overly strict or specific, such that maybe older routers won't work. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks...
Inspiron 15 (3521) wireless 'limited'...but only at certain places!