How to Find Free Wi-Fi Hotspots

There are places that provide free WI-FI access all over the world. If you travel abroad, you can look for an Apple store, which is easy to find in almost all the cities of the world. If you cannot find the Apple store, another option would be to look for one of the Starbucks or McDonald’s restaurants. These should be easy to locate all over the world.

Although there are many other restaurants that say they offer free Internet access, they sometimes require you to buy food or a drink from them if you want to be given free Wi-Fi access. Totally free Internet access can also be found in airports, train stations, bus stations, museums, libraries and other public places. And when these places offer Internet, the access should be 100% free.

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There are also several useful apps that can help you locate the perfect hotspot. Sadly, many of these apps need and Internet connection themselves, in order to offer you the needed information. And this kind of defeats the very purpose of the app, isn’t it?

If you do not have a cellular data plan while travelling, those apps may be of no use. Surprisingly, there are some apps that work very well even when you are offline. Instabridge and WeFi Pro are just two such examples. The first one has a 3 million hotspots database, which will prove its value especially when travelling abroad. The second app has an even larger database, of more than 200 million hotspots. The WI-FI finder app is also useful when you are interested in finding hotspots near you. The app uses the GPS location, and then shows you the hotspots that are close to you on a map. The app can be installed on phones and tablets.

The Internet provider that you have at home may also have a network of hotspots in other countries, allowing you to use them while you are travelling. As an example, Comcast has transformed home routers into public hotspots that are available for its customers only. Xfinity does the same thing. According to Data Alliance’s CEO George Hardesty, the same service is available in most European countries.

There are also many free hotspots, which in reality offer you a few free minutes, and then ask you to pay if you want to continue to use the Internet. They may be an option if you want to quickly check your email, for example.

Some business will offer free Wi-Fi if you sign a loyalty program with them.  These loyalty programs are often times free, and they can be of great help, especially if you can unsubscribe from the undesired newsletters, etc.

When you are interested in free Wi-Fi access, you should also consider the coupons that provide free access. There are several well known places (malls, tech exhibitions, etc.) where one can find vouchers and coupons for all sorts of products and services, free Wi-Fi being just one of them.

Here are some of the frequently used apps that will be of great help whenever you are looking for a free hotspot.

Wi-Fi Map can identify your location, displaying the Wi-Fi hotspots in your vicinity. These places will appear on a map near you, and thus will be easy to find.

Free Wi-Fi Finder works in a similar way; it displays the hotspots around you, along with the approximate distance to them.

Osmino Wi-Fi will not only display hotspots, but also the former users’ opinions about them.

The JiWire search engine knows a lot of data about numerous countries. When you use it, you will also get a lot of info about free and paid hotspots. You can also look for a special hotspot when you enter the address, the postal code or the name of the place you are interested in visiting.

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