Free Wifi in parking lots?

[TortoiseAvenger]

Hi there,

How reasonable is it to use wifi at free hotspots (McDonalds, et al.) from the parking lot? I have a dog so can't go in for hours, but need to work. I do have a cell data plan, but I'm worried about it being slow for my needs.

Any suggestions?

 

[john*thomas]

I picked up McD's wifi from across the street. I suppose it's hard to make a blanket statement though.

 

[Ravella and X]

Free public wifi is mostly slow, in my experience. Often often too slow to download much, and often enough, too slow to do anything but check and send email. That said, ive been a few places where it was free, fast, and had good enough range to work from outside. Overall though, I find using my data faster, easier, and far less frustrating.

 

[jonyjoe303]

To get good reception for wifi you need one of the usb wifi adapters and that has to be connected to your laptop USB. When I had to rely on free wifi I found the alfa's to be the best adapters, and I tried many different brands. You can find them on ebay. The built-in wifi on a cellphone have extremely limited range. And you would need some sort of vpn software, I was hacked before from using free wifi at the library, I highly recommend using a vpn.  I been using airvpn for years because its quick and costs about 20 dollars for 3 months. But there are also free vpn available if you don't plan to use too much wifi.

 

[MrNoodly]

I've had decent connections outside Home Depot, Lowe's, Walmart, various supermarkets, various restaurants, some truck stops... Some cities broadcast free wifi everywhere. The thing is, sometimes the bandwidth get clogged on free wifi.

 

[RoamerRV428]

Yea grocery stores like BI LO offered free wifi from there store and my kid loved it cause it was fast and good wifi

SO where you are is ask! This is a big NO go or a big HELLO yes use our net so just learn to ask...ask all the time if you need it, someone will darn give it to you

 

[PeterPiper]

To get good reception for wifi you need one of the usb wifi adapters and that has to be connected to your laptop USB. When I had to rely on free wifi I found the alfa's to be the best adapters, and I tried many different brands. You can find them on ebay. The built-in wifi on a cellphone have extremely limited range. And you would need some sort of vpn software, I was hacked before from using free wifi at the library, I highly recommend using a vpn.  I been using airvpn for years because its quick and costs about 20 dollars for 3 months. But there are also free vpn available if you don't plan to use too much wifi.

This is really good advice.
Free wifi locations are goldmines for hackers

 

[Dangfool]

I've been rather surprised at the wifi I've found at Lowe's and Home Depot.  I just have to move up and down the lot until I find where I get the best signal.  It's not gigabit or anything like that, but it's reliable and the speeds are about as good as I ever find in public wifi.