How to Find Free Wi-Fi Hotspots

This article includes locations for finding free Wi-Fi hotspots including retailers, websites, apps, service providers and your neighborhood library.

How to Find Free Wi-Fi Locations

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, public Wi-Fi networks, and free Wi-Fi options through your ISP. These free Wi-Fi locations are in most cities. Once you know where to go, you can get free Wi-Fi any time you want.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Search for Wi-Fi Near You Using Boingo

Boingo is another search engine where you can find places with 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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 Library
• Free Library of Philadelphia
• Dallas Public Library
• LA County Library
• Brooklyn Public Library
• Wichita Public Library
• San 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.

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.