Appendix B. Where the Hotspots Are

IN THIS APPENDIX

• Online directories

• Wi-Fi networks

• Retail locations

• Hotels

• Airports

• Free public networks

This appendix lists online directories of hotspots, provides information about national Wi-Fi networks, and tells you where you can find hotspots in retails chains, hotels, and airports. It also includes information about free, public access hotspots put up by libraries and some municipalities.

The problem is that, as they say, "you can't get there from here": An online source of information doesn't do you any good if you are not already online.

Besides online directories and Wi-Fi networks, this appendix lists the places where you are most likely to find a public Wi-Fi hotspot. Some of these are well known; for example, almost everyone knows that you can find a Wi-Fi hotspot at many Starbucks coffee shops. Others might surprise you.

Of course, no such listing can be complete. It would take an entire book similar to a phone directory. Here are some mind-boggling statistics: More than 25,000 hotspots are located in the United States alone. And, if you enter the phrase "Wi-Fi hotspots" into the Google search engine, it will return more than 500,000 hits.

So the problem is as much about sorting through this sea of hotspots and information to locate the hotspot you need when you need it as it is about simply finding a hotspot.

Also, the number of hotspots is expanding and changing every day. But getting accurate information about the location of hotspots can be difficult, so this appendix is intended to give you a "leg up" on the task.

The categories I've included are "Retail Locations," "Hotels," "Airports," and "Free Public Networks"meaning public noncommercial Wi-Fi hotspots that you don't have to pay for.