Choosing The Perfect free WiFi Location

Before you can choose the perfect free WiFi location, you need to have a good list of free WiFi connection places to choose from. The best place to start is Hot Spot Haven. Simply type in your local zip code or town and see what results come up. In my case there were over fifty different free WiFi locations to choose from. By simply reading through the list as was able to eliminate over half the locations as undesirable for what I wanted to do. That left me with about 25 different ones to take a look at.

In general on the free WiFi location sites you should be able to see a part where the different sites are reviewed. I would start with the ones that have the best reviews and then work your way down from there. The only way to truly judge if a free WiFi location is going to be a good spot for you is to go out and see it. However, once you are there you can make some quick assumptions about whether or not you will want to use it. First, if no one is there with laptops out doing work then more then likely it is not going to be a great spot. While this is not a hard fast rule, it can be pretty reliable.

In addition if there is a lot of people at one site working, while it will signify that there is a good connection there you may run into more frequent distractions with all of the people there. If you are looking to simply to connect up, chat with friends, maybe read the news and be social this is a perfect environment. If you are looking to get some serious work done, then this probably will not work out for you. If the latter is what you are truly after, then I would highly recommend looking into a place with fewer people and a quieter atmosphere.

Follow these simple steps and you should be able to find the perfect free WiFi location for any application.

Steps To Finding The Best Free WiFi

The first thing you are going to want to do is find a quick and easy way to detect WiFi signal strengths so that you can know whether or not you have a good spot. Most of the laptops out there, while they have a good WiFi card and can connect up easily are a bit big and clunky. I have a cell phone that is WiFi enable and I use it to be a hand held detection device for free WiFi spots. I will walk around and leave it on open and searching to see what networks come up. Only when I get one that I can not only log into but one that has a strong signal strength as well. After I am able to do this I will find a spot to sit down, then take out the laptop and begin work.

There are also places that always offer free WiFi service that you can go to and do work. Currently Barnes and Nobles, Starbucks, and AT&T all offer free WiFi at their locations. Starbucks and Barnes and Nobles are great places to do work, but they are not always convenient. If you can find one near where you are though they offer a free, easy, and reliable way to hook up to the internet. Without much hassle you can walk in and sit down and do work. Plus at Barnes and Nobles and Starbucks you can get a nice latte or cappuccino which makes working a lot easier.

The other great resource that you can use to make finding free WiFi simple is hotspothaven.com. This website has a searchable database of hotspots around the world. From Los Angeles to Sydney, all you need to know is where you are going to be an hotspothaven can find you free wireless there, if it is available. In my local zip code alone, and mind you I live in a fairly rural area, there were over twenty five different hotspots listed. My suggestion is if you know where you are going to be scout ahead with this website, then use your phone to confirm when you get there. If none of these pan out, just go to the nearest Starbucks, you are bound to find one pretty quick.

Steps To Making Sure That You Can Find Free WiFi Access

The first thing you want to make sure is that your computer system is set to automatically connect up to free WiFi access points as they are detected. Usually this will be the default configuration, but if you have a work computer it may not be set up this way. Simply go into your control panel, then to network settings, then WiFi settings. Once you are in there you should be able to set your free WiFi access to look for networks and connect as they become available.

Also, make sure that your settings are looking for all of the different available types that your wireless card will support. Typically for cards today this is going to be B, G, and N type networks. The most common networks these days are wireless type G. This offers the best balance of cost and speed. B networks are too slow and the signal strength too weak for any real applications, while N are simply not as common and usually are much more expensive.

Free WiFi Access Start

Once you have your free WiFi access set up, now you simply have to find some free WiFi locations to start connecting up. There are many different ways you can go about doing this. The best and most tried and true is to do your research ahead of time. While sometimes we simply will have no choice and have to hunt and peck using a hand held device or our laptop, this method is not preferred. There are websites out there that seek to document where you can find these hotspots so that you can take advantage of the free services that they provide. Usually these websites will be searchable by Zip code or city and town name. In addition they can provide information on locations worldwide and these are generally not limited to the United States.

Lastly there are documented places that have free WiFi access at all times. These include Barnes and Nobles, Starbucks, AT&T, most McDonalds, as well as many others. If you are out of luck trying to get connected up, simply going to one of these locations could be exactly what you are looking for. They can provide you with the service you need and in some cases extra things like food and drink as well. Also, they usually have staff that can help you connect if you are having difficulties.