Finding the best free public WiFi is a tricky mission. Not for the reason you think, though. It isn’t a lack of free WiFi but the fact there are so many options. You can find free WiFi everywhere, from coffee shops to retail stores.
Free hotspot WiFi is something society really relies upon. It supports remote workers, helps customers keep their digital connection, and funnels valuable data into business marketing schemes. Free public WiFi helps everyone, whether you are a business owner or a customer. You can utilize it, no matter your role and ultimate goals.
In this guide, we’ll unpack everything you need to know about finding the best public WiFi. As a customer, we can help you find the best free WiFi possible.
As a business owner, we can help you understand the importance of great-quality guest WiFi. Are you ready? Here are all the valuable details for you.
Where To Find Free Public WiFi
Finding a public WiFi network is actually super simple. You can find free WiFi in places like restaurants, cafes, and libraries, even on public transport like buses. If you are searching for an excellent quality public WiFi hotspot, the good news is you’ll have plenty of choices.
In this section, we’ll cover where to find free public WiFi. Knowing which types of places to look for is half the battle. And for each place category, we’ll give extra guidance on specific chains known to offer WiFi. A few specific examples can be really handy.
1. Coffee Shops
Coffee shops are a big one. These are popular places with free WiFi networks, and they encourage people to visit to relax and drink hot beverages. Nothing beats sitting with a steaming cup of coffee while you finish some work on your laptop, and coffee shop owners know that.
Watch for chains like Costa Coffee, Starbucks, and Cafe Nero. These chains have reliable internet speeds and free WiFi.
2. Retail Stores
Retail stores regularly offer free WiFi, especially if they’re located in a shopping center or have a seating area. The retail stores providing a public WiFi network to customers are the ones wanting to make shopping an experience. So watch out for larger stores with seating areas and in-store features.
Primark in the UK is a brilliant example of a retail store with WiFi. This is because it opened up a cafe and relaxation area in-store, so WiFi makes sense. Walmart is a good option in the US, too.
3. Public Transport
Public transport is a reliable place for public hotspots, whether at stations or onboard. You can find bus WiFi, train station WiFi, and even coach WiFi. If you are in desperate need, your local station will probably have public WiFi.
Even Grand Central Station has free WiFi in New York City. So check your local area and, if you can, Google whether the public transport has it before traveling.
The 3 Best Ways To Find Free Public WiFi
When looking for free WiFi, you’ve got to know the right places to look. That’s the main thing to remember. If you already have background knowledge of which stores and places offer WiFi, you’re more likely to hit gold.
If you memorize the categories we gave you above, you are already on the right track. The best way to find free public WiFi is to look in the right places.
However, let’s look at a few of the other best ways to find free WiFi.
1. Use An App
So many apps on the market can direct you towards public hotspots. These apps have maps showing all the different public networks on offer. You can find them on the app store, with applications like WiFi Map.
You can also download the free hotspot app, which turns your device into a portable hotspot. This is handy if you want a totally flexible long-term solution.
2. Ask Business Owners
Asking business owners and neighbors is a good way to get free WiFi. Most business owners are happy to share their WiFi with you. If they have a captive portal system, they actually benefit from you asking. Just make sure you stay for a reasonable amount of time.
Be mindful of things like table turnovers and purchasing enough to justify usage.
3. Ask Your Internet Service Provider
Your internet provider will also have great intel on where to find free public WiFi near you. So why not ring them up and have a check?
This is a really straightforward way to get free internet details from experts.
Why Business Owners Offer WiFi
The biggest bonus of offering guest WiFi is enabling business owners to utilize a captive portal system. Offering WiFi to customers can be very beneficial, especially when it comes to marketing.
Captive portal systems act like sieves, preventing users from fully accessing WiFi until they comply with a web page form. The form pops up when the customer goes to join your WiFi, and you can choose what details it requests. It could be anything from email addresses to phone numbers or even reviews.
Having these captive portal systems helps business owners collect details and improve their business. How they use the details and what actions they need customers to take from the form varies business by business. This flexibility is the most helpful part, allowing business owners to control the benefits they get from providing WiFi.
For business owners, providing WiFi is simply creating a new strategy to improve their business. Whether it builds a better online reputation through reviews or funnels contact details into marketing strategies, it remains in control. Business owners offer WiFi because it keeps customers happy and helps them to meet their business goals.
How Beambox Creates the Best Free Public WiFi
Beambox can help you to create the best public WiFi for customers and your business. Customers need the best public WiFi, with high internet speeds and safe, secure WiFi. We’ve got that down. But we also know you deserve to offer WiFi that equally boosts your business and provides a return on investment.
Here at Beambox, we offer an all-in-one WiFi marketing program. Our program helps set you up with a tailored captive portal system to feed back into your business. The proper guest WiFi should keep customers happy and scale your business to whatever goals you envision. We help companies to provide safe and mutually beneficial WiFi to customers.
You’ll be in total control. You can set your terms and conditions to control how customers use your network. You can set form requirements, such as email addresses for your email marketing campaign or numbers for your SMS strategy.
Finally, you get to design the final look. We all know how important branding is, and having that designer’s input is vital.
You can start your Beambox free trial today. Choosing software can seem like a lot of pressure and a big gamble when creating your guest WiFi. But with a free trial and almost instant results, you don’t need to overthink what’s actually a simple process. Are you ready to create the best free public WiFi? Here you come!
