So you’re out and about and need to get some work done. Or, perhaps you’re far from home and don’t want to pay the exorbitant fees for wireless access your hotel charges. Perhaps you just want to attempt to be social and sit at a coffee shop and read your email. Maybe you are just running up against your data cap on your smartphone and want to use Wi-Fi to stream some music instead.
Whatever. The point is, you need to find some public Wi-Fi, and you need it quick. No problem. Here are a couple great ways to track down some internet access when you’re not at home.
Wi-Find it
Hotspotr — This site lists over 18,000 Wi-Fi locations in over 3,700 different cities in North America. You can type in an address, a zip code, or just a city name and get a Google map with sites listed.
Free-Hotspot.com — Not in North America or planning on traveling to Europe? This site has you covered with over 5,000 locations in 21 different European countries.
Wi-Fi-Map.com — Despite the name, this site just gives you listings by state, though useful if you’re trying to search on something that chokes on running Google maps like Hotspotr uses.
Wi-Fi Finder for iPhone — This app is just killer. Uses your iPhone’s built in GPS technology to find hotspots nearby — and with over 500,000 free and paid spots in 144 countries, you’ll find one. You can even download an off-line database containing every spot in the directory — perfect for when you have no connection.
And two perhaps less obvious ways:
Power up your laptop — Fire it up and see if there’s anything nearby. If you’re driving, have a passenger check as you’re moving along. You can do this on your smartphone too, if you can’t connect through cellular data to one of the above suggestions.
Look around — A lot of public places that offer Wi-Fi advertise it in the front window.
Final thoughts
There are literally over half a million wireless internet hotspots around the world, and with some looking around and sometimes a little creativity, it shouldn’t be too hard to locate one. I mean, if you can send email from Base Camp at Mt. Everest, you should be able to find something.
Data divining rod
So you’re out and about and need to get some work done. Or, perhaps you’re far from home and don’t want to pay the exorbitant fees for wireless access your hotel charges. Perhaps you just want to attempt to be social and sit at a coffee shop and read your email. Maybe you are just running up against your data cap on your smartphone and want to use Wi-Fi to stream some music instead.
Wi-Find it
And two perhaps less obvious ways:
Final thoughts
There are literally over half a million wireless internet hotspots around the world, and with some looking around and sometimes a little creativity, it shouldn’t be too hard to locate one. I mean, if you can send email from Base Camp at Mt. Everest, you should be able to find something.
loading...