Internet, Networking, & Security Home Networking 58 58 people found this article helpful How to Find Free Wi-Fi Hotspots Where can I find free Wi-Fi near me? by Stacy Fisher Stacy is a freelancer with over 18 years experience writing about technology and personal finance. She has published hundreds of articles and co-authored a book. our editorial process Stacy Fisher Updated on December 28, 2020 reviewed by Jessica Kormos Lifewire Tech Review Board Member Jessica Kormos is a writer and editor with 15 years' experience writing articles, copy, and UX content for Tecca.com, Rosenfeld Media, and many others. our review board Article reviewed on Jul 17, 2020 Jessica Kormos The Wireless Connection The Wireless Connection Introduction All About Wireless What Does Wireless Really Mean? 802.11 Standards Explained The Range Of A Wireless Network Dual-Band Wireless Networking Explained How Bluetooth Works With Wireless Measure It: Wi-Fi Signal Strength What Is A Wi-Fi Hotspot? The Best Wi-Fi Channels For Your Network Access Your Router As An Administrator 5 Tips for Securing A Wireless Network How Many Devices Can Connect To One Wireless Router? How To Connect At Home How to Name Your Wireless Network How to Change Your Wireless Router's Admin Password Change the Wi-Fi Channel Number to Avoid Interference Build a Wireless Home Network Use Wireless Speakers In Home Theater Connect Your Echo & Alexa To Wi-Fi Connect Google Home to Wi-Fi Wirelessly Connect An iPad To Your TV Use a Free Firewall Program How To Connect On The Go How to Find Free Wi-Fi Locations Get 4G or 3G on Your Laptop Connect To Wi-Fi in Your Car Get Wireless Internet Access in a Hotel Use Your Android As A Wi-Fi Hotspot Set Up Personal Hotspot On Your iPhone Connect Nintendo Switch To Bluetooth Headphones Connect To A Wireless Network With Windows Access Your Computer Remotely How to Troubleshoot Wireless Issues 7 Reasons Wi-Fi Connections Drop Disable Automatic Wireless Connections on Windows How to Hack-proof Your Wireless Router How to Fix OS X Bluetooth Wireless Problems What to Do When Google Home Won't Connect To Wi-Fi How to Hide Your Wireless Network Can't Connect To The Internet? Try This What to Do When There's No Internet Connection The Future of Wireless 5G Changes Everything How 4G And 5G Are Different Why 5G Really Is Faster All About 5G Cell Towers 5G Challenges: Why It Isn't Rolling Out Faster Is 5G The High-Speed Replacement for Cable? When 5G Is Coming to the US The 12 Best 5G Phones Coming in 2019 Tweet Share Email Find free Wi-Fi locations near you with this list of places where you can hop on your phone, tablet, or laptop and get free Wi-Fi. There's a mixture of free Wi-Fi locations on this list, including restaurants and stores that offer free Wi-Fi, open public Wi-Fi networks, and free Wi-Fi through your ISP. These free Wi-Fi locations are in most cities, and once you know where to go, you can get free Wi-Fi any time you want. This makes it easy to find somewhere you can relax and catch up on social media or get a little work in. On the go and looking for Wi-Fi? Here are some free Wi-Fi hotspot locator apps to help you out. Use a Wi-Fi app to analyze the network you're on to see other devices that are connected to it or to see how secure the network is. Find Free Wi-Fi Locations Through AT&T Lots of places use AT&T as their internet provider to offer free Wi-Fi. Some of these locations include McDonald's, Barnes and Noble, FedEx, Starbucks, and numerous hotels. AT&T There isn't a hotspot map on the AT&T website to help you find free Wi-Fi, but they do suggest using a hotspot locator app like one mentioned below. Most of the AT&T free hotspots use the same SSID of attwifi. Find AT&T Free Wi-Fi Locations Free Wi-Fi at McDonald's Over 11,000 McDonald's locations offer free Wi-Fi through AT&T. You can find these locations through a hotspot locator app. However, if you want free access at McDonald's only, and don't need to look elsewhere, you can search for it here, too. McDonald's Find a free McDonald's Wi-Fi location by searching for a restaurant. However, some owner-operators might disable Wi-Fi, in which case you won't be able to access it. To use the internet for free at a McDonald's, connect to the network called Wayport_Access or attwifi_mcd, open a web browser, and then choose the Connect button. Find Free Wi-Fi at McDonald's Use a Starbucks for Free Wi-Fi Access Similar to McDonald's, Starbucks serves free Wi-Fi through another company, but instead of AT&T, Starbucks uses Google. It works both in the U.S. and in Canada. Wi-Fi is free at all company-owned Starbucks locations. Starbucks Corporation When you give the Starbucks map your current location, it finds all the free Wi-Fi locations near you. Filter by Google Wi-Fi to make sure the locations you see have free internet. You can also filter the results by service, such as for ones that offer mobile payment or 24-hour access. The wireless network Starbucks uses for free Wi-Fi is called Google Starbucks. Select that network, complete the fields that display on the screen, and then choose Accept & Connect. Find Free Wi-Fi at Starbucks Get Free Wi-Fi Anywhere via OpenWiFiSpots Tens of thousands of places with free Wi-Fi locations have been manually added by the users of OpenWiFiSpots, and there are a few ways to search for these hotspots. OpenWiFiSpots OpenWiFiSpots can be used free through their website. The site finds free nearby Wi-Fi by city and displays it on a map as well as in a list. You can also find a location by type, such as airports, train stations, pharmacies, public parks, and shopping malls. OpenWiFiSpots finds free Wi-Fi anywhere, including the United States, Canada, Netherlands, Australia, Brazil, and other countries. Use OpenWiFiSpots to Find Free Wi-Fi Search for Free Wi-Fi Near You Using Boingo Boingo is another search engine where you can find places with free Wi-Fi. Its database includes information on over one million hotspots. Enter a city, address, or postal code to get a map and a list of locations. Once the search results show, you can narrow results by location type, like airports, restaurants, hotels, stores, or cafes. Boingo Wireless Your search results can be exported to a PDF file that includes the location name, address, and Wi-Fi SSID for easy offline viewing. Click any hotspot on the map for the name of its SSID and an option to see directions to that location from any other location. You can also use Boingo to find free Wi-Fi near you and get directions to any of the locations with their iOS app or Android app. It's also available on Windows and Mac. Find Free Wi-Fi at Boingo Use Wi-Fi-FreeSpot Directory to Find Free Wi-Fi Anywhere Free Wi-Fi locations in the United States, Asia, Canada, the Middle East, and other areas can be found through The Wi-Fi-FreeSpot Directory. You can look for locations by state or by country/region. You can also browse by special location, which supports looking for companies, hotels, airports, RV parks, and vacation rental property that offer free Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi-FreeSpot Directory This website isn't as detailed as some of the others from this list, so be sure to check the sources from above first. Instead of showing specific locations and network names, you're given a website link to the company, park, or hotel, leaving you to contact the business or go to their website for Wi-Fi information. Visit the Wi-Fi-FreeSpot Directory Free Wi-Fi at Your Local Library Most libraries have free access to computers, and some also offer free Wi-Fi so you can bring your laptop or smartphone in with you to get free internet. Public libraries that have free Wi-Fi access include: New York Public LibraryFree Library of PhiladelphiaDallas Public Library LA County LibraryBrooklyn Public LibraryWichita Public LibrarySan Jose Public Library It's best to visit your local library or access their official website for information on whether they offer free Wi-Fi and for details on how to connect to their network. Some networks are open, but others require a password or a library card number. A program called Library HotSpot is available at the New York Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library. This is a free service they offer to people who don't have internet access at home. It works by giving out a free wireless modem that they can use for a limited time. How to Get Free Wi-Fi Access Through Your ISP Though it's not strictly a free way to get Wi-Fi, if you're a paying customer of select internet service providers (ISPs), you might be able to access free Wi-Fi hotspots at hundreds of thousands of locations around the U.S. This works through Cable WiFi, which is a joint network name created by Cox Communications, Optimum, Spectrum, and XFINITY to bring free Wi-Fi to their subscribers. This means if you get internet at home through Cox, for example, you can benefit from your subscription when you travel. Visit your provider's website for location maps and more information on how this works. The free Wi-Fi network you should look for with these providers might be called CableWiFi but could also go by the company name, such as xfinitywifi or CoxWiFi. Log in with the username and password that you use with your ISP. Learn More About CableWiFi Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! 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