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I try to be frugal so sometimes when I'm forced to do something like get a better cell phone in this case I'm behind on technological knowledge. Here's my question and I know its not a hard one.
I was using data when going online with my cell phone, I just found out that I can use WIFI and it saves on data, I didn't know. When I'm in the house all the wifi connections are locked and need a password, only once when I was in walmart parking lot could I get a wifi connection that wasnt locked.
A. How do I know what the passwords are
B. Can I not get into an unlocked wifi connection because I'm in the house (location) as I was able to use an unlocked wifi connection when I was sitting in Walmart's park n lot
This is new to me because I just learned you could use WIFI and save on data about 2 days ago.
One thing you can do if the network's name is Cox or Xfinity is to log onto it and sign up for a free hour. You can only do that once a month. If you have a few dollars to spare you can pay for an account, and then the next time you see that network again you will have access to it. Same at airports using Boingo.
II know that if you are a member of say, Books A Million, you can use their wifi. Same thing for going to other businesses ( ff joints like McDonalds). Sometimes you may have to ask the business what their password is and other times it's posted on one of their wallboards.
I am not a member of Books A Million and I have never had to subscribe to anything to use their Wifi connection at any location that I have visited. I only have to accept their local Terms & Conditions to use their network when initially connecting.
Its odd to me that we have not seen cities that offer free WIFI to residents or even visitors, or some larger WIFI network, that would basically make internet free to anyone, wherever they are.
Im really surprised a Google, Amazon, etc has not yet called for something like this
Its odd to me that we have not seen cities that offer free WIFI to residents or even visitors, or some larger WIFI network, that would basically make internet free to anyone, wherever they are.
Im really surprised a Google, Amazon, etc has not yet called for something like this
The cable companies always present legal challenges. Cities cannot afford to fight the cable companies in court. A large city like New York may have a go of it but a city like Dayton Ohio not so much. Plus most cities like to piggyback off of the cable internet infrastructure.
Detroit is doing it the old fashioned way. At least in the ghetto some non profit is providing it. Not sure if there are any legal challenges there but it is going on.
Average person doesn't realize that you can get the internet through other means. You don't necessarily need major corporations. You can build your own infrastructure.
Google faced legal challenges in the past with Google Fiber. They may return again but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Its odd to me that we have not seen cities that offer free WIFI to residents or even visitors, or some larger WIFI network, that would basically make internet free to anyone, wherever they are.
Im really surprised a Google, Amazon, etc has not yet called for something like this
Don't forget that there is a built-in infrastructure cost to build and maintain the network. Someone will have to pay for it and the average taxpayer isn't likely to willingly pay for it out of the kindness of their heart.
FWIW - I refuse to use public wifi, ever. I'll use my phone as a hotspot before I use anything a hotel, cafe or business offers me. If it's not a network I set up and created the key for, I'm probably not going to use it.
That's what VPNs are good for. I felt comfortable using WiFi in China as long as I had a good encrypted connection via VPN.
And as to locked WiFi connections...it IS possible to hack into them. Just illegal. I've hacked my own locked WiFi connection to see how it's done and it's not trivial.
Public private partnerships. Here in Norfolk they were going to work with a PBS station for the infrastructure but they ran into some legal challenges. So it obviously is not going to happen. This type of thing happens all the time.
Getting the taxpayers to do it wouldn't work around here because they're very much about doing for self and you can't rely on the government to do anything for you. If you don't do it for yourself don't expect it to get done. More liberal municipalities might fight that good fight for the public good but that isn't the mindset around here.
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