Home » Welcome / open talk

Free WIFI Locations

 
Sun, 10/12/2008 - 1:32am

Hi,

Anyone know if there are any Free WIFI location POI's for New York City?.

Thanks
Mike

‹ Tele Atlas for Garmin? Chit Chat Thread for the week of October 27, 2008 ›
--
GPS On The Ground | FMC In The Air
Sun, 10/12/2008 - 1:50am

Couple People have asked

Couple People have asked asked for this. Far as I know, noone's made a POI file.

But, I was just thinking. There are 2 websites that have decent databases of wifi hotspots.

www.jiwire.com - free and paid
www.wififreespot.com - Free hotspots

And, starbucks recently made a switch from Tmobile hotspots to At&T, and now has 2 hours free wifi time a day. You DO have to buy a prepaid starbucks card, and use it once a month to keep your wifi account active, but that's not a big deal, for me anyway. Buying an occasional cup of coffee sounds like a reasonable price to pay for free wifi.

Sun, 10/12/2008 - 9:00am

Thanks for the wifi links

skunkape wrote:

Couple People have asked asked for this. Far as I know, noone's made a POI file.

But, I was just thinking. There are 2 websites that have decent databases of wifi hotspots.

www.jiwire.com - free and paid
www.wififreespot.com - Free hotspots

And, starbucks recently made a switch from Tmobile hotspots to At&T, and now has 2 hours free wifi time a day. You DO have to buy a prepaid starbucks card, and use it once a month to keep your wifi account active, but that's not a big deal, for me anyway. Buying an occasional cup of coffee sounds like a reasonable price to pay for free wifi.

Thanks for the link to the wifi locations. I found them interesting even though there is no POI for them as a group.

--
260, 295W, 1490T,2455LMT
Sun, 10/12/2008 - 9:43am

Constantly changing

Wifi poi's are almost impossible to keep up to date. Nationwide, Wifi hot spots change daily.

In NYC you could probably duck into the lobby of most hotels and get a free Wifi connection.

--
Garmin Nuvi 750 & c530 with RT's vol. mod., Vulcan Nomad
Sun, 10/12/2008 - 10:40am

Starbucks, McDonalds & ATT

I saw an ad on TV recently claiming if you got your DSL from ATT you also got wifi included. I do so I called to see what the deal was. I was told that if you get your DSL from ATT you can use wifi at Starbucks or McDonalds for free, you use your ATT logon... I haven't used it but apparently you can. McDonalds may have a similar deal as Starbucks for non ATT users... rolleyes

--
It is terrible to speak well and be wrong. -Sophocles snɥɔnıɥdoɐ aka ʎɹɐƃ
Sat, 11/01/2008 - 2:08pm

You might try NY libraries

In Los Angeles all public libraries have free WiFi:

Free public wireless Internet "Hot Spots," are at all Los Angeles Public Library locations. Note: 802.11B wireless access is available. Laptops must have DHCP enabled. LAPL Staff cannot assist in setting up laptops to work with the wireless access.
edit:
NY Libraries do provide free WiFi:
http://www.nypl.org/branch/services/wifi.html

NY Libraries poi:
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/3278

Chicago libraries also provide free WiFi...

--
It is terrible to speak well and be wrong. -Sophocles snɥɔnıɥdoɐ aka ʎɹɐƃ
Sun, 11/02/2008 - 2:04pm

Starting a free wireless POI

You could probably use the Iowa rest area POI as one source, from what I have been told all of the Iowa rest areas have free wireless. The same holds true for some of the Texas rest areas.

--
Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.
Sun, 11/02/2008 - 2:50pm

Seattle Ferries, too.

Most Seattle ferries (both car and pax only) also have free wifi onboard.

No, they are not in NYC, but I would bet the ferries serving Manhattan are the same and have wifi onboard.

Mon, 11/03/2008 - 1:51pm

IA and TX WI-FI

I have used both states rest area WI-FIs and they are indeed free. IA can be diffacult to log onto at times.