How to Connect Roku to Your Dorm Wi-Fi (for Free)

By Phil Autelitano

At least once a day I get an email or phone call from someone in their dowm trying to get their Roku device to work with their dorm’s router and Internet connection. Problem is, you can’t connect Roku directly if the dorm’s Internet requires a login and password.

Why they call me, I don’t know! Sure, I develop TV channels and applications for Roku (and it clearly says so on my website) and I do write and post a lot of stuff about Roku, but no where among any of it does it say I offer Roku Technical Support. (That can be found here: http://support.roku.com/home) Oh well. Regardless, I’m always happy to help if I can, but lately I’ve been so busy and I hate to leave anyone hanging, so I thought I’d write out a few simple instructions, post them here and on my website, and then let Google do the rest. Hopefully, next time someone searches, “Connecting Roku to Dorm Wifi” or “Roku Dorm Setup” or whatever, they find this first.

TIME-SAVING TIP#1. Before we go on, it’s my duty to point out there is a great *paid* solution to all of this, it’s called Hotspot Max and it’s a virtual hotspot. It takes your hotel wifi and turns it into a separate hotspot to which you CAN connect your Roku. It typically sells for $50, but right now you can get it for $12.50 and save yourself a bundle, and the trouble of…