Vendor agnostic captive portal authentication

A method for providing vendor agnostic captive portal authentication in a network that includes a plurality of network access devices, the method comprising:

• receiving a redirect request of a communication between a first user-terminal and a first network access device of the plurality of network access devices,
• wherein the redirect request includes a vendor-specific item of information of the first network access device and an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the first network access device,
• wherein the vendor-specific item of information comprises at least one of:
• a vendor-specific network access device parameter, a vendor-specific formatting of a network access device parameter, or a vendor-specific label of a network access device parameter;
• comparing the vendor-specific item of information of the first network access device and the IP address of the first network access device against each of a plurality of entries of a network access device database;
• and
• providing the first user-terminal access to a vendor agnostic captive portal page based on the comparison of the vendor-specific item of information of the first network access device and the IP address of the first network access device and an entry of the network access device database.

A system for providing vendor agnostic captive portal authentication in a network that includes a plurality of network access devices, the system comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable storage memory communicatively coupled to the processor, the memory containing instructions that cause the processor to:

• receive a redirect request for a communication between a first user-terminal and a first network access device of the plurality of network access devices,
• wherein the redirect request includes a vendor-specific item of information of the first network access device and an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the first network access device,
• wherein the vendor-specific item of information comprises at least one of:
• a vendor-specific network access device parameter, a vendor-specific formatting of a network access device parameter, or a vendor-specific label of a network access device parameter;
• compare the vendor-specific item of information of the first network access device and the IP address of the first network access device against each of a plurality of entries of a network access device database;
• and
• provide the first user-terminal access to a captive portal page in response based on the comparison of the vendor-specific item of information of the first network access device and the IP address of the first network access device and an entry of the network access device database.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage memory containing a plurality of instructions such that, when operated upon by a processing system, causes the processor to:

• receive a redirect request for a communication between a first user-terminal and a first network access device of a plurality of network access devices,
• wherein the redirect request includes a vendor-specific item of information of the first network access device and an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the first network access device,
• wherein the vendor-specific item of information comprises at least one of:
• a vendor-specific network access device parameter, a vendor-specific formatting of a network access device parameter, or a vendor-specific label of a network access device parameter;
• compare the vendor-specific item of information of the first network access device and the IP address of the first network access device against each of a plurality of entries of a network access device database;
• provide the first user-terminal access to a captive portal page based on the comparison of the vendor-specific item of information of the first network access device and the IP address of the first network access device and an entry of the network access device database;
• authenticate a user operating the first user-terminal so as to allow access to a network that includes a plurality of network access devices;
• and
• configure the first network access device to communicate with the first user-terminal using a vendor-specific protocol.