In surveys of people’s biggest tech frustrations, bad wifi ranks up there with forgotten passwords and drained batteries. At home or work, we can reboot the router or call IT. But when we’re out and about, a wifi fix can be out of our control.

I’m on the road a lotn(like A LOT), and so I have more experience than most with public wifi and its issues. Sometimes your internet connection is solid. Other times it pretends to work while doing absolutely nothing. After all these years, these are the tricks I use when the signal says yes but the internet says no.

(Before we begin, here are some words of wisdom about wifi issues at conferences 😎).

1. Test the connection speed.

If pages won’t load and Facebook posts won’t post, the first thing you should do is check your connection speed. My favorite site is Netflix’s Fast.com, which tests your connection as soon as you hit the page. IT folks might tell you to go to Speedtest.net, but there you have to press extra buttons to see what kind of speed you’re actually getting. Who has time to press more buttons?

2. Toggle wifi off and on.

Sometimes your device gets stuck on a weak access point. Turning wifi off and back on forces it to reconnect and can help it lock onto a stronger signal.

3. Turn off cellular data (or wifi) if your phone is confused.

Sometimes your phone has a perfectly good data signal but wastes its time behind the scenes trying to connect to a weak wifi. Turn one off and try again. And if that doesn’t work, switch them. That can clear up slow or spotty performance.

4. Try the “Forget This Network” fix.

Another technique if you’re connected and nothing is working is to redo the network connection. Go to your wifi settings, select the network, and choose “Forget.” Then reconnect. This clears out settings that might be causing issues.

5. Open a browser to see if there’s a login screen.

Many public networks require you to accept terms or log in before giving you actual internet. Open a browser and type in any web address to prompt the login page. I’ve also found that some browsers don’t always pull up the access screen (I’m looking at you, Chrome). So if you’re still blocked, pull up a second browser to see if the screen pops up.

6. Check if the problem is bigger than you.

Have you ever discovered a broken site and wondered, “Is this down for everyone or just me?” Surprise! There’s an awesome site called Down for Everyone or Just Me that will give you the answer. And you can also check sites like DownDetector to see if others are reporting issues with Gmail, Slack, or other services.

7. You kinda shouldn’t be using public wifi anyway.

I’m not trying to lecture you here, but you’ve heard about the dangers of connecting to public wifi before. On the road, I always try to use my hotspot and only go to public wifi if my data signal is weak. If you’re handling anything sensitive or need a stable connection, avoid the public connections and choose your phone’s hotspot instead. It’s often faster, and it’s yours alone.