When you’re home based and Internet based you’re only as good as your wireless connection, and when you can’t work at home finding free WiFi hotspots can be a challenge. It’s a good idea to scope out a few local locations for days when the home connection is lacking or you want a change of scenery. It’s also a good idea to have a list of places with free WiFi connections for when you travel.
Hotel connections are mostly never free unless you’re staying at a place that caters to business people. Very few airports have free WiFi though you could pay a fee to use a service such as Boingo to get connected if you need to work while waiting on a plane.
Fortunately, there are places to find free WiFi and by doing a little research ahead of time you can have a list of hostspots before you travel. I’ll get you started….
What follows are places with free WiFi or a directories and search engines featuring free WiFi hotspots.
- Library – Most libraries have free WiFi. If there’s a library near where you’ll be staying, it’s a nice quiet place to work and you won’t be short of research materials.
- Panera Bread – Work and have some really good soup, just about every Panera Bread is wired.
- Whole Foods – Surf while you shop?
- Starbucks - I’m not the only one who head to Starbucks to work when I want a change of scenery. Not only does Starbucks rock the WiFi but many other coffee shops do too. Caribou Coffee, Tim Hortons and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf also offer Wifi.
- Many Big Boy restaurants offer Free Wifi but do check first. Not all offer this service.
- If you like your WiFi served up with a healthy dose of eye candy and some really good wings, bring your laptop to Hooters.
- Office Supply emporiums such as Staples and Office Depot also have free wireless. Not sure how they feel about your setting up shop in the middle of their showrooms, but it’s there if you need it.
- Airports – As mentioned (above), not all airports offer free wireless, but many do. The WiFi Free Spot Directory offers a great list of airports with free WiFi.
- Hotels and Motels – Here is a list of lodges with free WiFi thanks to The WiFi Free Spot Directory.
- Campgrounds and RV Parks – Ok, so it isn’t really roughing it, but plenty of camping spots also offer free WiFi.
- Taking the bus? Greyhound offers wireless on some of its routes.
- Open WiFi spots has a list of free WiFi hotspots from around the country.
- If you live in or are visiting New York City, you’ll want to bookmark openwifinyc.com which features a list of wired spots around the city.
- World travelers will appreciate jiwire.com’s list of wireless spots around the world.
- WiFi Zone Finder not only features a list of free WiFi hotspots, but it also has a search engine so you can put in your location and see where the nearest hotspots are.
- The HotSpot Haven is another search engine dedicated to finding free WiFi Hotspots in your area.
- At gWiFi learn how to use Google Maps to find WiFi in your area.
- If you have a package to send or copies to make and need to get online, many Fedex Office shops offer Wifi.
- Krystal Restaurants – Offer free Wifi.
- Many Denny’s Restaurants offer free WiFi for their patrons.
- Barnes and Noble offers free WiFi at their bookstores.
- Borders Books also has free WiFi.
- Apple Retail Stores have Wifi so you can test out your iPad before you buy it.
- Bob Evans restaurants offer free wifi for diners.
- MDonald’s Restaurants now offer free wifi.
