How to Find Free Wi-Fi Locations

Use AT&T’s hotspot locator to find places with free Wi-Fi that use AT&T as their Internet provider. Some of these locations include McDonald’s, Barnes and Noble, hotels, FedEx, and Starbucks. 

You can search by address, zip code, country, or landmark, as well as browse through the map manually. The results can also be filtered to only show free Wi-Fi from particular locations, such as at hotels.

The SSID for AT&T networks is usually attwifi, but to be sure, you can check next to each specific location on the side of the map.

Thousands of participating McDonald’s locations offer free Wi-Fi through AT&T. Though you can find these locations through the AT&T map from above, if you know you’re looking for free access at McDonald’s only, and don’t need to look elsewhere, you can search for it here too.

Find a free Wi-Fi location through McDonald’s by searching for a zip code or city/state.

The McDonald's Trip Planner is available through this map and lets you enter a start and end location to find free Wi-Fi near you as you make your trip.

To use the Internet for free at a McDonald’s, just connect to the network called Wayport_Access or attwifi_mcd, open an Internet browser, and then choose the CONNECT button.

Similar to McDonald’s, Starbucks serves out free Wi-Fi through AT&T. It works both in the US and in Canada.

Wi-Fi is free at all company-owned Starbucks locations. See their Store Locator map to find a Starbucks location, or use AT&T’s Wi-Fi map.

If you give the Starbucks map your current location, it can find all the free Wi-Fi locations near you. You can also filter the results by service, such as for ones that offer mobile payment and/or 24-hour access in addition to the free Internet access.

The wireless network Starbucks uses for free Wi-Fi is called either attwifi or Google Starbucks.

Tens of thousands of places with free Wi-Fi locations have been manually added by the users of Open Wifi Spot, and there are a few different ways to search for them.

Open Wifi Spot can be used absolutely free through their website. The website lets you find free nearby Wi-Fi by city and view it on a map as well, as in a list, but you can also find a location by type, such as by airports, train stations, pharmacies, parks, shopping malls, etc. 

Open Wifi Spot finds free Wi-Fi anywhere, including not only the United States but also Canada, Netherlands, Australia, Brazil, and other countries.

Another way to find places with free Wi-Fi is through the Open Wifi Spot iOS app. The app itself is not free, but it does find free Wi-Fi near you, and even works offline, which is perfect if you’re using something like an iPad or iPod touch that doesn’t always have an active Internet connection.

Boingo is another search engine for finding places with free Wi-Fi. Enter a city, address, or postal code to get a map and list of all the locations.

Once the search results are showing, you can narrow them down by location type, like school, restaurant, business, venue, or public space. They can also be sorted by the name of the hotspot, the address, the city, and by free Wi-Fi near your location.

One thing I like about Boingo is that it provides a list of nearby cities next to the one you're currently looking at, and shows how many free Wi-Fi locations exist there.

Click on any hotspot for the name of its SSID. Look to the bottom right of the search results for the Download List of Locations. This list will show the location, hotspot name (not the SSID), and whether or not the network is free to access.

You can also use Boingo to find free Wi-Fi near you and get directions to any of the locations with their free mobile app.

Free Wi-Fi locations in the United States, Asia, Canada, the Middle East, and other areas can also be found through The Wi-Fi-FreeSpot Directory.

You can look for locations by state (in the US) 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 simply given a website link to the company, park, or hotel in question.

Not only do most libraries have free access to computers, but some also offer free Wi-Fi so you can bring your own laptop or smartphone in with you to get free Internet.

Several examples of public libraries that have free Wi-Fi access include The New York Public Library, Free Library of Philadelphia, Dallas Public Library, County of Los Angeles Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, and San Jose Public Library.

It's best to visit your own 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 even a library card number.

The New York Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library also has what's called the Library HotSpot program. This is a free service they offer people who don't have Internet at home. It works by giving out a free wireless modem that they can use for a limited time.