Where to go for the best public Wi-Fi in the US
Too_Many_Tools
Posts: 765
FYI...
http://qz.com/245052/mcdonalds-speedy-wi-fi-gives-new-meaning-to-fast-food/
I only eat where there is WiFi..as do many others.
Too bad many restrurants are too short sighted to offer WiFI.
(Sorry about the bad initial link...sticky keys)
http://qz.com/245052/mcdonalds-speedy-wi-fi-gives-new-meaning-to-fast-food/
I only eat where there is WiFi..as do many others.
Too bad many restrurants are too short sighted to offer WiFI.
(Sorry about the bad initial link...sticky keys)
Comments
-Phil
As far as wifi is concerned, I am not sure theirs is the best. I use the wifi attached to my land line account and can log in at Starbucks or 7/11. Starbucks has reliably clean bathrooms as well, and better ambiance than McDs.
The problem with all of these is 'the plan'. They all seem to try to capture you as a habitual user via bumping out the competitors and offering some special rates to loyal customers. At the end of the day, the calculus of wifi billings is annoying.
Anyway, a clean bathroom is far more important to me. A quiet ambiance with chairs that are not bolted to the floor is more appealing as well. And good air conditioning complete the trio of top requirements.
Speaking of coffee, down the street a Starbucks opened across the street from a Vietnamese restaurant chain. The Vietnamese place's parking lot is usually full but when I went it was almost empty. Considering there is a McDonald's, Carl's Jr (Hardees), and various restaurants/Coffee shops I don't know how well Starbucks expect to do. That location was previously a Burger King that had been there for years.
That means you are not enjoying your food or the whole restaurant experience.
I can understand wanting to carry on surfing the net whilst stuffing down a quick burger at lunch time. But on say "only" seems a bit extreme.
So how do you account for the horrible coffee served by McDonald's all over Scandinavia?
Scandinavians love their coffee, brewed up from beans, I have yet to meet one that tolerates instant coffee.
(Although luckily one can buy Nescafe Gold Blend instant here, I hate messing with coffee machines, but that McCoffee is something else)
I don't think wifi will change that. I visit McDs about once a month for the best french fries in the world.
Nevertheless, when out and about in the world -- one can always expect a McDs bathroom to be cleaner than the average one. Of course, if you gotta go in Taiwan, the Taoist temples also have clean free bathrooms. But tourist feel a bit awkward looking for them.
What I look for in favorite wifi hot spots are the small out of the way coffee shops that are usually not owned by a chain... the kind of ambiance that will allow me to spend a sunny afternoon at an outdoor table with the dog sleeping under my feet while I sip lattes.
In general, the best state for finding fast Wi-Fi is Virginia. Just an FYI.
Might be true, but don't miss Arkansas. Come for the wifi, stay for the nutria.
I do agree about the bathrooms though. I have sometimes found myself munching on one of those soggy burgers and fries in McD's just because I needed to find a bathroom in a strange town.
Of course if you are a local you know that pretty much every local bar, where tourists dare not tread normally, has free WIFI as well as cheap beer. If you happen not to have a pad or smartphone to hand many of them have a PC in the corner you can use for free as well.
No joke. At one point in time, the leading gourmet food critic in France declared McDonald's french fries to be the best in the world.
http://www.eonline.com/news/463762/our-definitive-list-of-the-best-and-worst-fast-food-french-fries-burger-king-s-new-satisfries-not-included
But it is the reliably clean bathroom that tends to draw me into a McDs. Nothing beats the call of nature to get your feet moving in one direction. Maybe Android could use a clean bathroom app.
https://www.optimum.net/internet/hotspots/
They are doing that with our Cablevision routers around here.
So I guess you just drive around neighborhoods until your WiFi detector goes off and then you pull over and surf?? Sounds kind of dicey to me.....I know I'll be calling the police about parked strangers WiFi or no WiFi!
I'm sorry, but this sounds too good to be true. How can it be safe to use? Couldn't the owner/Wi-Fi hotspot donator look at all of the data coming through the hotspot?
I was surprised at the very fast download speed.
Ken Gracey
It's almost like with DirecTV and other satellite providers - they use two different media/technologies for the download and upload legs. You would think on a plane you'd end up with the same for both......hmmmmm.
Jets use pretty small antennas and radios in comparison to the ground stations. I'm sure that and a few other factors lead to the crippled upload speed.
Not consistent with prior flight, but still a reasonable download speed.
Ken Gracey
Regard Ken's posting...
Wifi in airports always seems pretty good, but not exactly a daily usage kind of location.
Public parks with free wifi seems a very appealing idea. The wifi might actually promote more enjoyment of the outdoors.
I have been a bit annoyed for some time now that I have to pay an additional $15USD per month for wifi services. And then, I am sticking to just one of several providers that would like to latch on to me.
Well it's not really free, you have to be an Optimum subscriber or know the credentials of someone who is in order to get on their hotspots. They do have incredible converge in higher density areas around NY/NJ/CT and in parks, etc. all with decent speed. If you're connecting through one of the hot spots placed down in a commercial establishment it's possible the owner could hack into their router and sniff your data. However, this is pretty unlikely as most commercial establishments don't even know that they're hosting a Optimum hotspot.