I found the similar thing in a hotel. They clearly offered free (lower speed) wifi for anyone. (Higher speed for paying customers.) The edge could navigate through their front end site, but would never get through the Connect page. It might be that it had some kind of flash voodoo on it. Or too many moochers like me sponging off their free service.

McDonald's uses a similar setup. One page provides the acknowledgment for terms of service for free Wifi, and then it redirects to another URL for access. However, the edge ordinarily handles the McDonald's network more or less just fine. (Or about 3 out of 4 restaurants.)