How To Get Free Wifi At Shanghai PVG Airport

If you’re like me, when you land in a new airport, one of the first things you do is look for free wifi.  Now what frustrates me the most at an airport, or anywhere as a matter of fact, is how 1) there isn’t free wifi and 2) they make you jump through hoops to connect.  Free wifi is becoming more and more an expected service and the good news is that the Shanghai Pudong International Airport is one of those airports.  That said, it is a little trickier than most places to connect which is why I decided to put together this quick post.

Methods of connecting to #AirportPVG-Free-WiFi

The wireless network or SSID that you’re looking for on your phone is #AirportPVG-Free-WiFi and once you’re connected, this will pop up.

If you look at the bottom, there are two options for logging in.  The first method is by SMS and the second is by a special username and password.

Let me help you walkthrough both methods so that you won’t be without data when you land in Shanghai.

Method 1: via SMS

This method only works if the SIM card you have in your phone can connect to a cellular network in China when you land.  I, for one, had issues primarily because I realized after the fact that I hadn’t enabled international roaming but that’s another story.

I would say that this is the easiest method because all you have to do is pop in your phone number and with any luck, you’ll receive a text message with the code you can use to log in.

Not much explanation is needed here as this is pretty easy to do.

Method 2: via Username and Password

You’d think this is easy but especially if this is your first time in Shanghai and you don’t speak the language, it’ll be trickier than you think.

Let’s break this up into two parts: arrival and departure.

Arriving at PVG

If you’re landing in Shanghai, you’re going to have to wait until after customs and picking up your bags until you can get a username and password.  This means only when you go out into the public arrivals hall will you be able to start this process.

Thing is, they don’t exactly have an information desk for you to go to.  In the name of automation and convenience, they’ve actually installed machines near the door you exit.

Once you’re at the machine, change the language to English and follow the instructions that will lead you to scanning your passport below.  Once your passport has been scanned, a slip will be printed from the machine.  Use this username and password to log into the wifi.

Departing PVG

Now if you’re leaving Shanghai, it’s a little different which is why I wanted to highlight this new set of steps.

Similar to arrivals, you’re going to need to look for a machine to print out one of those slips.  The machine you’re looking for is between gates 75 and 77.  It’s a little hard to spot unless you know what you’re looking for.

This machine is actually a little different from the arrivals one (don’t ask me why) and it’s a console that seems to do a bunch of different things.  I couldn’t figure out how to switch it to English so I’ve taken a sequence of photos to show you what you need to tap on to get things going.

Ultimately, what you want to do is get the machine to scan your passport.  Once approved, it’ll print out a slip with the username and password and that’s how you’ll be able to log in.

The one thing to be careful of is that I had a lot of trouble scanning my passport.  It’s a larger glass scanner and what I learned after numerous attempts is that you have to place your passport at the top left corner of the scanner.  Otherwise, it won’t be able to successfully read your passport.

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Well that’s it!  Hopefully you’ll be able to get on the wifi at PVG although…if you can’t figure it out, you won’t be able to find this article….hmm…I’d like to think the resourceful travellers will look this up ahead of time.