Saturday, November 2, 2013

How I Find Free WiFi

How I Find Free WiFi

[Last Revised: 28 Feb 2014]

San Angelo Library, TX
    On Thanksgiving I decided to check some of the "Big Six" here in San Angelo to see how many left their WiFis running while they were closed. As I write this, only one, Home Depot turned their WiFi off while they were closed; and their WiFi is not yet operating as of M 2 Dec.
    Also, I finally found a map where all 12 of the Texas Visitor Centers are located; here's a link to a list of the Texas Visitor Centers.
    After spending Halloween Eve in Austin, Texas, during a couple of strong thunderstorms, I was reminded of another source of free WiFI: FedEx. While it's usually not as strong as any of the Big Four listed below, it has the advantage of numerous locations -- especially in big cities such as Austin.
    After hunkering down at a 7/11, eating a sandwich for dinner, and watching the run-off from the roof of the attached Chrvron gas station, I finally drove to the McDonalds further up Jollytime from the 7/11. However, because there was a Humana office also using AT&TWiFi, it was impossible to log on to Mcdonald's WiFi. When I stopped in at the 7/11 again, the previous clerk had been replaced. While we were talking, a woman who came in to buy some wine mentioned that Krispy Kreme Donuts had free WiFi.
    In driving up Jollytime I missed the Krispy Kreme, but found another McDonalds; however, I wasn't able to park near enough to log on due to the heavy business they were doing. As I drove around the shopping center I noticed a FedEx. A young fellow in San Antonio had told me that all of their offices have free WiFi. You generally need to be nearer their office than with those which follow in the next paragraph. I'm now adding FedEx to those with nationwide stores and changing the name I used in the next paragraph.

    Just found out yesterday that WiFi at Sam's Club is a permanent fixture expected to be in all of their outlets by the end of this month (Nov 2013). See Links below.

    Since libraries are most likely to have WiFi I often look up the website of the next county seat's library along my planned route. But if I neglect to do that, there are now six national chains from which either to look up a library or each other. Here are The Big Six.

  • McDonalds
  • Starbucks
  • HomeDepot
  • Lowe's
  • Sam's Club
  • FedEx

    While Lowe's has the strongest WiFi, mainly because that's needed to cover their large parking lots, I've listed McDonalds first since one often sees their billboards when approaching a new town or city.
    Also, you can sometimes see the "Golden Arches" in case you missed their billboard.

    While Starbucks parking lots are often crowded around noon and again in the evening and they usually have two handicapped parking spots in front of their stores, their WiFi is usually as strong as McD's, if not stronger.

    While I've used HomeDepot's WiFi the least of the four, their large buildings sometimes have parking alongside where one can avoid parking in the hot sun.
--
    Prior to some point in 2012 one could download a list of all of a state's McDonalds restaurants with WiFi by clicking on "Find WiFi Hotspots" on their homepage.
    Now, however, if one wants such a list, he has to "roll his own" by looking up restaurants with WiFi at the following link and then saving them to a text file.
....
McDonalds' Restaurant with Free WiFi
....

    While I've not made such lists for the other members of "The Big Four," I sometimes look them up ahead of time if I'm headed for a city which is large geographically.

--

    But there are substitutes for the Big Four which I'll call the "Big Four Subs." They include the following.
  • Visitor Information Centers
  • Some Grocery Store Chains
  • Senior Centers
  • Some Regional & National Restaurant Chains
  • Some Hotels & Motels

    I was told at Judge Roy Bean's Visitor Center in Langtry, Texas, that all of their Vistor Centers have WiFi. Colorado's Ft Collins Visitor/Info Center had a desktop one could use for 20-30 min but no WiFi for my laptop. Utah's Visitor Center at Dinosaur Rd and US40 had WiFi, but I only learned that by asking -- which is what I suggest you do when you stop at a Visitor Info Ctr in any state.

    Safeway is the dominant grocery store chain in California and on the west coast. Their stores built or remodeled in the last 6-7 years usually have WiFi -- especially if they have a Starbucks counter/kiosk in the store. Ditto for their Vons stores in Southern Calif. & Arizona.(It may be that Albertsons stores with Starbuck counters or kiosks also have WiFi.) Finally, only about 5% of Safeway/Vons' stores have 110v a.c.; if, like me your laptop battery is nearly comatose, you'll have to look elsewhere.

    The advantage of Senior Centers is that you're just as likely to find them in a small town as in a bigger city. For instance, I've used the Baggs Senior Ctr WiFi twice while they were closed. Of course, you may have to "come in through the back door" by logging onto their router, usually Linksys or NetGear. In both Grand Coulee, WA, & Kemmerer, CO, I didn't use their WiFi but asked them where the library was.

    While I have gotten on-line while parked outside a Wendys, Burger King, Dennys, Hardees, WhatABurger, & Golden Chick, I don't believe any of those have a policy of WiFi at every restaurant.

    The last two are chains in Texas or the southeast where the franchisee decides whether or not to offer free WiFi.

    A contractor named Tim Kelly, whom I met in Las Cruces, NM, told me about the WiFi at HomeDepot & Lowe's. He also pointed out that not all motels or hotels have passcodes. [In fact, recently I parked behind one to get the address of the Gunnison, CO, Library; then I used Mapquest to find my way there.]

Veterans Day 2011 Field Check

    Driving around San Angelo on Mon 11 Nov I checked as many fast food & restaurant chains as possible. Scholtzkey's, which was recommended by one of the librarians, has a program which blocks those without passcodes; hence, it's not free; however, their website (Find Your Schlotzkey's) has the ability to show only those outlets(c300) with WiFi. One might categorize their restaurant as at the upper end of the casual dining restaurants.

    Many of the fast food restaurants either had passcodes or their WiFi was too weak for me to log on. When I stopped at Wendy's on Sherwood Way between a Walmart Supercenter and a Sam's Club, I was able to long onto the free WiFi of the 3d largest burger purveyor (by sales); and their web site allows one to search for only those Wendy's with WiFi.

    But when I first tried to log in at Wendy's, WiFi for its neighbor, Sam's Club, barged in. Have never tried other Sam's Clubs for free WiFi, but I shall when I begin traveling again. Sam's Club WiFi did not work 2 days ago, but it did on Su 17 Nov eve.

    One technique I've used is to search for a "store locator" using a restaurant chain's name; there are 2 links below to fast food and casual dining restaurants. Some, such as Wendy's, allow you to search for only those outlets which have WiFi.

Texas Visitor Centers [aka "Texas Travel Information Centers" on the TDOT "Safety Rest Area" map]
  1. Amarillo
  2. Austin
  3. Denison
  4. El Paso
  5. Gainsville
  6. Harlingen
  7. Langtry
  8. Laredo
  9. Orange
  10. Texarkana
  11. Waskom
  12. Wichita Falls

    The San Angelo Chamber of Commerce runs a Visitor Center with rest rooms which are open until 4 or 5 p.m., depending on the day of the week. Thanks to my complaints, it appears that all of the volunteers who man the Center now know the passcode for the San Angelo Chamber of Commece router, whose name is SACOC. Hwr, when the Visitor Center and Chamber of Commerce office are closed, there is a Netgear router which is not passcode-protected. I've used it several times by parking in one of the 30-min parking spots to the right. [This paragraph revised on 28 Feb 2014.]

 

A Few Words about Libraries

    It would be convenient if all libraries left their WiFi's on 24/7 and did not use passcodes. But, skinflint that I am, I would likewise turn the routers off when the library closed if I were the librarian.

    And why is it that the smaller towns have libraries with passcodes whereas libraries of larger cities rarely use them? As I told the librarian at the Big Pine, TX, library, "You would think the libraries in larger cities have more secrets to hide than do those in small towns." And why is it that I arrive in small towns with closed libraries which have passcode-protected WiFi on Sundays when some big-city libraries are open?


    Do you have corrections, suggestions, or additions? Send them to my Hotmail e-mail address and after I check them out I shall add them to this article giving you credit. Especially want to find more companies like "The Big Six."
Return to Top of Page
Links:

Routes:

Sa 9 Nov Actual Route: Sherwood Way W/M - San Angelo Lib - Sherwood Way W/M

Su 10 Nov Actual Route: Sherwood Way W/M - Home Depot - San Angelo VA Clinic - Sherwood Way W/M

M 11 Nov Actual Route: Sherwood Way W/M - Home Depot - Tom Green County Offices Parking Lot - Schlotzkey's - Outback - Wendy's - Sherwood Way W/M

T 12 Nov Actual Route: Sherwood Way W/M - Freudiger RV Services - San Angelo Lib - Sherwood Way W/M

W 13 Nov Actual Route: Sherwood Way W/M - San Angelo Lib - Sherwood Way W/M

Th 14 Nov Actual Route: Sherwood Way W/M - Freudiger RV Services - San Angelo Lib - Sherwood Way W/M

F 15 Nov Actual Route: Sherwood Way W/M - Freudiger RV Services - San Angelo VA Clinic - San Angelo Lib - Sherwood Way W/M

Sa 16 Nov Actual Route: Sherwood Way W/M - Home Depot - San Angelo Lib - Sherwood Way W/M

Sa 17 Nov Actual Route: Sherwood Way W/M - Home Depot - SW Blvd McDs - Tom Green County Pk Lot - Sam's Club -Sherwood Way W/M

M 18 Nov Route: Sherwood Way W/M - Freudiger RV Services - San Angelo Lib - Sherwood Way W/M

Finding Campgrounds:

N.B. I receive nothing from Trailer Life, Woodalls, or FreeCampsites.net for including links to their free campground lookups.

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