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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.
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You don't know what the password of a private WiFi connection unless someone shares it with you. Why do you think people password protect their WiFi? They are trying to keep you from stealing their connection. That's the point of the password.
Some places offer free public WiFi, and that's why you were able to get it in the WalMart parking lot. McDonalds, Starbucks, etc all offer free WiFi. Don't try to steal someone's personal WiFi.
Background:
WiFi is preferable to Cell Connections as it's probably a faster connection, probably more reliable, and may be used for data transmissions saving a LOT of cell provider data-fee charges.
BUT, it is much easier for anyone to listen-in, as it's not to hard to eavesdrop into WiFi. IF the connection isn't encrypted. Encryption takes a password, making the WiFi connection more hack-resistant. This is the reason WiFi sending private info, (say for your home WiFi), needs to be encrypted, with a password. The more complex your password, the harder it is for someone's hacking software to break the encryption,
To get to your specific question, there are three basic situations: 1) Free WiFi by businesses, no password required
Some businesses provide "free WiFi" as a business perk. Airports, Coffee shops, etc. What they do is have their WiFi signal available for your device to connect to, without requiring a password entered.
Or a practice that's becoming more common is to let your device connect, but the first thing you see is a web page asking you to agree to their Terms of Use page, where you must hit an "Agree" button before you can then surf. This is to make their lawyers happy.
Most newer devices recognize this step when trying to connect to a WiFi and automatically open your devices browser, which will automatically go to that Accept page.
Some of the older devices don't know to look for an Accept Page, and will connect to the business's WiFi, but then be blocked by them from going on to the Internet. If you see that happening, (You get a "Connected to Internet via Coffee-is-Me Free Internet" message, but then your Facebook app says it can't connect, open your Internet Browser app and open it's home page, if there is a "Accept Page" needed, it will automatically be redirected there. You push the button, and will then be allowed on into the Internet. SAFETY: Since there is no password involved, the signals are NOT being encrypted and can be understood by anyone with range. Do NOT connect to the Internet and do anything that may reveal sensitive info. IE: do NOT do online-banking, check stock reports, or do anything on-line at all where the site you're visiting also needs a password, as those passwords will be readable by hackers.
2) Free WiFi by business, but you need a password.
Some businesses want to keep out non-customers, so they use a password, but choose one that's simple, and hand it out or have a small sign by their cash register showing "Today's WiFi password is, 'goodcoffee' " or such. That way when you try to connect, your device will ask you for a password and it's simple and easy to enter. Also, if the business doesn't change it before next you return, your phone will remember the password and auto-enter it, letting you jump right into the Internet without having been bothered. See above about safety. Even though you did use a password, it was short and publicly known so hacking the encryption may be much easier. Don't surf to sensitive sites, as mentioned above.
3) Your home WiFi
Here is where you want a MONSTER password. So neighbors and cars driving by out front can't possibly hack in, and it's safe for you to do on-line banking, etc. Pick one that's long and complex, (mine is over 50 characters, Upper, Lower alphabet, numbers, spaces, and characters, none making up actual words).
Since you only enter the WiFi password into each device only the first time it connects to your home WiFi, (and the device will remember the password for future connections), having a really complex one isn't that much of a hardship.
By The Way, the "Unlocked" isn't the right term. It usually means a device where you used a password to gain access to that device itself. "Secure Connection" is what an Internet connection that's protected by a password is called. (Pretty similar, I know).
Another tip: Now that you have your phone/tablet connecting to your home WiFi and other WiFi locations, there are many opportunities to make it work better. Here are a few that I do:
Some apps can be told to transmit their data ONLY when connected via WiFi. IE: I use Dropbox and Google-Drive for storage (in the cloud) of my photos and some personal files. They can be told to not do this until you're connected via WiFi (and thus their data charges don't apply to your cell provider).
Likewise, I have an app that does a daily back-up of my TXT messages to the Internet, but it will wait until the phone is connected via WiFi.
Look on your phone's data-consumed screen and see which apps transmit significant amounts of data. This will tell you which app you should examine to see if you can (or wish to) limit it's data to WiFi connection only.
Example. I'm stopped at a red light and see a funny car license plate. I take a quick picture to add it to my collection. My phone has been set to NOT send that photo to my Google Pictures now, over my cell phone provider connection (with data charges), but rather it waits until I get home, ... or stop for a coffee in some place where I'd previously entered their password, and my phone connects automatically, and only then will that photo be echoed to my on-line Google Photos collection. (More specifically, the Google Photos app in my phone has this setting).
Well done fellas. Just wanted to add in laymans terms: all those WiFi networks you see on your phone are your neighbors WiFi networks. They are not free for you to use.
One exception to the locked rule - if you are an AT&T or Xfinity (or some other cable provider) customer you will have access to their hotspots but will need to log in. You can contact your provider for details on how to do this.
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.
A) Ask someone. Really applicable at public places (restaurants, coffee shops). Lots of them are secured but they'll tell you the password if you ask to use their wifi. Or at a friend's house.
B) Not sure what that means. If there's an unsecured wifi connection, you should be able to connect to it. By default your phone probably won't try and connect to an unsecured connection as that's generally a stupid thing to do. Again, exceptions. Larger chains often have unsecured connections but they're setup for that with decent firewalls. If you go somewhere like Starbucks, for example, it will be unsecured. It's safe enough to use. Random Wifi 1234 probably is but then again it might not be.
If you've never changed the password on your router at home, it's probably written on the side of it on a sticker.
Well done fellas. Just wanted to add in laymans terms: all those WiFi networks you see on your phone are your neighbors WiFi networks. They are not free for you to use.
You would not believe how many people called in when I used to work on a corporate helpdesk saying they couldn't connect to "randomnetwork" coz their neighbor changed the key. Uh, you do know you're putting corporate data on someone elses network right? "Well, I don't have one and I need to get online".
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.
It's just not worth trying to crack WPA network passwords unless you're just doing it as a hobby just to say you did. That excludes 99% of the population.
Better you try to save money on your phone service, for example getting Cricket wireless with multiple lines and splitting the cost with multiple people. You can get 4 lines each with 22GB of data for $100. Even with this you're not going to want to spend all day watching youtube videos because you'll suck up 22GB in a couple of days.
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