It happens that we visit places less often when we do not find an active WiFi hotspot (more importantly, a free one). Moreover, when sitting at a restaurant, the first thing we are curious about is whether the restaurant offers a free WiFi or not. Fortunately, there are many ways which one can follow to get free WiFi almost anywhere, and do it with minimal hassle. Let us check them out:
#1. Utilize an App to find Hotspots
If you head on to the App Store or Google Play Store, you would find applications which would help you find WiFi hotspots nearby or at a targeted location. You just have to click on the spot to know whether it is an open network or a secured one.
In this case, we tried Avast WiFi Finder, which is a quite popular application by Avast Inc. With the help of its map, you can find hotspots nearby and choose the best from it. Avast Finder even chooses the optimal connection for you. In addition, it informs you when there is a possible security problem with the WiFi network you are connected to.
It does not need an active Internet connection to find you the best WiFi nearby, it would automatically connect you when it finds the best one. However, without an active Internet connection, you may fail to look for available WiFi hotspots in a targeted location far off from your current location.
#2. Look for connections using the default WiFi scanner
If you are not interested in installing additional apps to find free WiFi networks, you can simply scan for available WiFi networks using your smartphone.
You just need to navigate your way through the Settings to the Wi-Fi option. You can then observe several nearby Wi-Fi networks (if available) and connect to the one which is labeled as an “Open” network.
#3. Head to Specific Locations With Free WiFi
You do not need to install several apps and keep scanning for free Wi-Fi hotspots all day long. If you know where to find one, you will save more time to utilize the network rather finding it.
So, you can head to specific locations which are already known for their availability of free Wi-Fi networks. For instance, Starbucks and McDonalds are one of the sweetest spots that surely offers a free Wi-Fi.
#4. Visit a Hotel
Visiting a hotel just to get free WiFi is not a feasible solution for everyone. But it does save you in situations when you badly need an active yet free Internet connection on your device to take care of something urgent in a short span of time. You have to be a bit careful here, do not blame us if you get caught!
#5. MAC Spoofing
You might have a good day finding a great free Wi-Fi network but it offers the service only for a limited time period for any individual connection. So, what do you do now?
Fret not, you just need to follow a technique (MAC Spoofing) which would let you access the Wi-Fi network for a longer (potentially for an unlimited period of time).
#6. Best Spot – Your Friend’s house
Why should you try different ways to find a free Wi-Fi network when your friend has one? Yes, if you are lucky enough, your friend might just give you the access to his home network as a free WiFi solution for you. It is probably one of the best ways by which you can get free WiFi.
In addition, a personal WiFi network will not have many restrictions on usage (content filtering). Moreover, you can just ask your friend to unblock a specific content if you have problems accessing something.
#7. Find the password to a protected WiFi network
When you search for available WiFi networks, you get a lot of free WiFi solutions but some protected WiFi networks as well. What if you knew the passphrase for the protected WiFi network? It would be just great!
Maybe it would cause a problem to the person who owns it (if it is a metered connection) but you still get a free WiFi solution.
In this case, you can join a community using an application like “WiFi Map — Free Passwords” where you could find passwords to various protected Wi-Fi network. So, you do not need to ask anyone for it if the password is still the same as the user shared with the community.
#8. Use a Web service to search for free WiFi network spots
An alternative solution to the mobile applications is to use a web service. It would be a convenient solution if you do not want an additional app to affect your smartphone’s performance.
OpenWiFiSpots, is one of the perfect websites that provides you information on available free WiFi hotspots in major cities. Its database is not just limited to the U.S, you can even find a few hotspot locations in countries like India.
Conclusion
Finally, now you know about the best ways by which you can get free WiFi almost anywhere. You could break down the above-mentioned points in a variety of ways but these would remain to serve as the most logical ways to get free WiFi.
Do you know about any other interesting way to get free WiFi? Maybe a useful app which could be potentially better than Avast WiFi Finder? Let us know your thoughts on the article and do share your ideas to get free WiFi (mentioning the service / method / app you use) in the comments section below.