How to be cheap/smart/bargain hunter/whatever from The Women’s Travel Group. Paying for wifi overseas on top of paying a crazily expensive phone bill at home is a nasty burden. Before we start, any public wifi is insecure unless you purchase a VPN line. VPN lines are cheap but might not work on sites like Paypal or your financial sites: Bank, Stocks. Those sites usually need to identify your phone, computer or ipad.
Most hotels offer what they call free wifi; it is not really free as it is included in your room costs, or in junk fees added to that rate. There are apps that help you find free wifi. But of course you need wifi to use the apps, locate the free wifi; so what is the point?
Here is where you can snag free wifi while you are traveling.
Find a wifi hotspot. If you see a lot of people (especially people who “look down on their luck”), using phones, you are near a hotspot. Example: New York converted many of its telephone booths into free wifi. You will likely see homeless people using them for wifi while charging their phones in the same place.
I found standing in front of major banks, even on days when they are closed, one can access customer free wifi. Same with hospitals, some restaurants, bars, libraries, schools.
In most airports, you can connect to public wifi; it might take a few tries if busy. Keep at it. Turn your phone on and off and try again. At London Heathrow, here is a weird feeling. Once you use wifi there and you return, you will receive a Welcome Back with your actual name.
Wifi is free in most large European department stores. Wander in, get your business done and you just saved phone money.
There are some countries that have national free wifi set ups: Portugal is one. I was in a village in Colombia; the free wifi began with a no smoking video. Interesting way to get two birds with one connection.
Some cities offer free wifi on trains and buses: Norway and Switzerland do. This is especially true for airport connection trains.
Borrow free wifi from you guide or a fellow traveler. Go to settings, then wifi, then wait until you see the name of your contact’s wifi. Let them put in the code, and you can share as long as you stay close to each other. They will not be billed extra for your usage.
Sneaky trick; you want free wifi from lets use Starbucks as an example only in the xxx Airport? Ask one of the staff to help you get it; most of the time they will log your phone on line without asking you to buy something.
Again public wifi is sometimes a necessity. But both your finger movements and your data are public. Be smart while you are being cheap. Stay connected like a cheap skate. Travel tips from award winning The Women’s Travel Group. For future trips and available space on our small group tours for women, click here
