How To Get Free Wi-Fi Access Anywhere You Go?
Over the years, our devices have slowly become a part of us and it has become increasingly hard to go anywhere without a smartphone, tablet or a laptop.
One thing all these devices need to function at full capacity is a Wi-Fi network. So whether you need to pay some bills, access your bank accounts, login to social media or communicate with your colleagues, Wi-Fi gives the users these different functionalities
Luckily for you, you can find Free Wi-Fi Access almost everywhere you go nowadays from bars and restaurants to buses and trains.
The best thing is that these places offer free Wi-Fi are places you visit on a daily basis, so you don’t have to alter your daily routine for the free Wi-Fi access. Read on to learn the different methods you can get free Wi-Fi access wherever you are, even at home.
How to Get Free Wi-Fi Access at home
Use A Friend’s Wi-Fi If you have a friend, who happens to be your neighbour and has allowed you free access to their Wi-Fi network you are in luck. This is because you not only enjoy internet access for free but also because it provides a safe and secure connection whereby you don’t have to worry about malicious software and hackers.So if you live in close proximity, you can take full advantage of your friend’s kindness without incurring a single cost. However, if you live far away and the Wi-Fi is out of your range, you can look at purchasing a Wi-Fi range extender to get access.
How to Connect To Friend’s Network: 4 Step
Below I have highlighted four simple steps you need to take to connect to your friend’s Wi-Fi network.
- It goes without saying that the first step is to check whether your devices can detect your friend’s Wi-Fi network. If your devices cannot detect your friend’s Wi-Fi signal, it would be futile to ask your friend for his or her Wi-Fi login credentials.
- If you’ve ensured that your home devices can detect the Wi-Fi, the next thing on the agenda is to ask your friend whether you can use their Wi-Fi. There’s no need to risk your friendship that is why getting permission from your friend is vital.
- Once your friend gives you the green light, go ahead and ask him or her for the password.
- If the Wi-Fi signal is weak or not strong enough to reach all the corners of your house, you can get permission from your friend to use a Wi-Fi extender or a long range antenna.
How to Connect To Public Wi-Fi?
Public Wi-Fi connections can be found just about anywhere these days, whether it is your local restaurant, gym, coffee shop or bars. So whether you live close to these establishments, you can take full advantage of their Wi-Fi connection from the comfort of your home all for free.However, as is with most free thins, there are some drawbacks of relying on public Wi-Fi as your main source of internet connectivity. The first drawback is that most of these public networks have strict network restrictions such as capped data speeds and blocked sites. Also, since many people use public Wi-Fi, there is a high chance that the transfer speeds will frustrate you.
Another major drawback is that these public networks are unsecured and make you vulnerable to cyber theft. Most hackers target public Wi-Fi networks to steal crucial information like your bank details and passwords to access your bank accounts. The hackers do this by watching everything you do on the network. Therefore, it is always advisable to be very vigilant and use a VPN whenever you access a public Wi-Fi network.
Fast Food Restaurants Like cafes, most fast food restaurants also offer free Wi-Fi to their customers. A large percentage of fast food restaurants will wait for the customers to order food before they give you the password to their Wi-Fi. However, if you are lucky, you will find a restaurant that has the Wi-Fi password on public display, so you don’t have to make any purchases to access the Wi-Fi.
If you live near such a restaurant, you can capitalize on the free Wi-Fi but should remain cautious over falling victim to a possible hack. Also, you should wait until off-peak hours to enjoy the fastest speeds and uninterrupted connections on the restaurant’s Wi-Fi network.
Stations, whether bus stations, rail stations, and even airports are places you are guaranteed to find public Wi-Fi. Stations represent a great opportunity to enjoy Free Wi-Fi Access. However, these places are crowded and see human traffic in the thousands or hundreds of thousands per day. The problem is even if only a quarter of the people decide to join to that public Wi-Fi network, the network will still be overcrowded and the users will experience lags in opening pages, image, and video buffering as well as connection interruptions.
Despite the free Wi-Fi, you should also be extremely cautious because a large number of people in itself becomes a great target for potential hackers. Therefore at the end of the day, you should ask yourself if the unsecured and inconsistent network makes the free Wi-Fi worth your while.
Search for Hidden Networks
Just because you can’t see a Wi-Fi network displaying on your device, it does not mean that there isn’t one. Some people are crafty and hide their networks to remain anonymous and keep out unwanted persons off their network. Luckily, there are Wi-Fi scanner apps that are available for free on the Android, Windows and Apple stores such as NetStumbler, WeFi, and tumbler respectively.
These apps let you sniff out hidden networks while also letting you perform a variety of different tasks that may come in handy when you are in pursuit of a free Wi-Fi network. Some of the common places you are likely to find hidden Wi-Fi networks include college campuses, electronic stores, and private lounges in airports, etc.
Sign Up for a Loyalty Program
Signing up for loyalty programs with some businesses and hotels is another great way of getting free Wi-Fi. Signing up is free and easy where you are just required to key in your email address, and you’re good to go.In exchange for the free Wi-Fi, the company you signed up for will often fill your email inbox with annoying newsletters so be prepared for that. However, this is a small price to pay, and all you need is a good spam filter to block the messages from reaching your inbox.
Use A Powerful Long Range Antenna For Connecting Far Away
If you live near establishments that offer Free Wi-Fi Access, you can use a long range antenna to boost your device’s Wi-Fi range. Some of the best long-range antennas can boost your range up to 8 miles which greatly improves your odds of connecting to a network that is far away. These antennas are designed to pick up networks over long distances but in doing so sacrifice the angle of reach.
Therefore, you should always know the exact direction of the Wi-Fi network when using a long-range antenna so that you can point it in that direction. Also, since most Wi-Fi networks are one-direction, it might be impossible to connect to them using a long range antenna. If you are having problems connecting to your friend’s Wi-Fi network you can use directional antennas on both ends to enhance your device’s Wi-Fi range.
Disadvantages Of Public Wi-Fi Networks
Public Wi-Fi networks attract many people, and their crowded nature regularly interrupts connections and load and transfer speeds tend to be sluggish.
Any public network is a potential target for hackers. Since all the data is passing through an unsecured network, it is at risk of being stolen. Therefore it is always advisable to refrain from accessing sensitive websites that require your credit information as it can be stolen easily
To protect yourself and your data from hackers, you can use a VPN when using a public network. VPNs protect your data by encrypting it as it is transferred from your computer to secure servers leaving no chance for hackers to access sensitive information
Final Verdict
- As you can see from this article, the free Wi-Fi also comes at a price. In most public Wi-Fi networks, at best you get a slow connection while risking the chance of getting hacked. Therefore you need to ask yourself if the free Wi-Fi is worth all that hassle. In conclusion, a friend’s Wi-Fi network remains the best free Wi-Fi network you can connect to since it is both fast and secure. And if you live far away from them you can always long-range antenna or a Wi-Fi range extender to get a good connection.