When our internet went down last Friday we both went into McDonalds to use their wifi. We have identical i-pads. I got straight in. OH’s i-pad refused to cooperate. When I checked our settings later at home the only difference I could see was his VPN was on. Would that explain it?
It might. Many public WiFi zones in France block VPN access.
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Thanks John. We need to go back, just to give it a try. Can’t bear the loud music though. 
At first, before getting an internet connection, we used to go online by parking next to McDo, so didn’t need to enter the place.
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Did your partner’s iPad connect to the WiFi successfully but then he couldn’t navigate anywhere, or could he not establish a connection at all?
He seemed to establish a connection but then couldn’t navigate anywhere.
Just don’t use unsecured WiFi to access bank accounts etc.
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Ah, I see. Yes I agree with @JohnH then. McDo probably blocks access to your VPN provider. They want to know what you’re browsing, probably so they can make money off it somehow.
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And make sure you’re not using their network to access or upload illegal content.
…or to order from Burger King. 
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They can probably see which sites - they can’t see what content as everything is https anyway.
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I read the very same thing from a software editor today. VPNs can hide the DNS lookups, but seeing as 95% of all websites now use https to encrypt traffic, so basically VPN providers live off the fear they propagate amongst the general public. That’s not to say that they don’t have their place in the ecosystem, but they will only protect you against a rogue Wi-Fi hub masquerading as the local coffee shop.
Never had that problem, when I was on the road I always dived into McDo’s to catch up on emails, always asked for a mandise and a petit cafe to show willing, and enjoyed the look on the face of the young who would try to understand if I wanted espresso.
I would grate my teeth and grumble under my breath ‘it ‘s your bloody language for goodness’ sake’ but then smile sweetly and reply ‘non merci, juste un petit cafe’. 
Although if you’re using a public WiFi to access a VPN to then upload illegal content, it’s just gonna look like you’re uploading from the VPN not the public WiFi.
VPNs are pretty much just to hide your traffic from your ISP and to trick geolocation checks these days.
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