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Happy holidays! Have some free Wi-Fi on Google unless you’re in O.C.

November 10th, 2009, 7:01 am by

Google sponsors free Wi-Fi at 47 airports during holiday 2009.Update, 10:13 a.m.: Google responds to why Orange County was overlooked. See bold below.
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Google Inc. wants to give consumers an early Christmas present and said it will sponsor free Wi-Fi Internet at airports across the country through Jan. 15, 2010. The company has agreements with 47 airports plus the big Wi-Fi provider Boingo Wireless, which typically charges $7.95 a day.

Unfortunately, this freebie doesn’t include the two big ones here, John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana or Los Angeles International Airport. Boingo doesn’t provide service to John Wayne, but it does offer it at LAX. The Long Beach airport, of course, has free Wi-Fi all the time in the JetBlue section. UPDATE: Google says that it didn’t restrict the promotion to certain airports. All airports listed wanted to participate and wanted to make this happen. “If there are other airports who are interested in potentially participating in any future programs, they should contact us at freeholidaywifi@google.com,” said a Google spokesman.

However, if you’re traveling beaucoup this upcoming season, the “free gift” will be available at some local airports, including San Diego and Burbank. More likely, however, travelers will get to take advantage of free Wi-Fi if they’re in San Jose, Boston and Las Vegas.

Here’s a complete list of airports offering free Wi-Fi:

Airports offering free Wi-Fi ’till Jan. 15, 2010
Austin (AUS) Houston Bush (IAH) Orlando (MCO)
Baltimore (BWI) Indianapolis (IND) Panama City (PFN)
Billings (BIL) Jacksonville (JIA) Pittsburgh (PIT)
Boston (BOS) Kalamazoo (AZO) Portland (PWM)
Bozeman (BZN) Las Vegas (LAS) Sacramento (SMF)
Buffalo (BUF) Louisville (SDF) San Antonio (SAT)
Burbank (BUR) Madison (MSN) San Diego (SAN)
Central Wisconsin (CWA) Memphis (MEM) San Jose (SJC)
Charlotte (CLT) Miami (MIA) Seattle (SEA)
Des Moines (DSM) Milwaukee (MKE) South Bend (SBN)
El Paso (ELP) Monterey (MRY) Spokane (GEG)
Fort Lauderdale (FLL) Nashville (BNA) St. Louis (STL)
Fort Myers/SW (RSW) Newport News (PHF) State College (SCE)
Greensboro (GSO) Norfolk (ORF) Toledo (TOL)
Houston (HOU) Oklahoma City (OKC) Traverse City (TVC)
Omaha (OMA) West Palm Beach (PBI)

Google is working not only with the airports but Wi-Fi providers, such as Boingo Wireless, Advanced Wireless Group and Airport Marketing. Additionally, Google is working with Virgin America airlines to offer free Wi-Fi to passengers traveling in Boston, Seattle, Las Vegas, San Diego and Fort Lauderdale through the same period. More details at www.freeholidaywifi.com.

Coincidentally, Boingo announced this morning that teaming with hotel chains to offer “sponsored access” has increased revenue up to 35 percent at select airports, and generated click-through rates of up to 39 percent for sponsors. Typically, such campaigns have offered travelers 15 to 20 minutes of free Internet in exchange for watching a 30-second video.

Google did not say whether it will make users watch a commercial in exchange for free access.

Did you miss these earlier stories on Gadgetress?

Posted in: Wi-Fi & networking • • • • • • | 11 Comments »

25,000 more places for Wi-Fi (if you’re with AT&T)

August 25th, 2009, 2:41 pm by

Free Wi-FiAT&T just announced that its collection of global Wi-Fi hotspots increased 25 percent today, bringing its total to 125,000 hotspots worldwide.

The new 25,000 hotspots are in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Croatia, the Netherlands, the UK and China. Sites in China are live and active. The European sites will be activated over the next 45 days.

But for the most part, these new sites are geared toward AT&T business users who pay $19.99 a month for AT&T’s Wi-Fi Premier plan.  Still, any one can get this plan, which could come in handy when traveling overseas.

Here in the United States, AT&T offers access to its hotspots for free to iPhone users, and for its high-speed Internet or U-verse Internet customers. Non AT&T customers can pay a daily fee of $3.99 for access or, of course, purchase the monthly $19.99 Wi-Fi Premier plan. There are 20,000 AT&T hotspots in the United States.

Alternatives for non-AT&T customers include the free Wi-Fi for Verizon customers (read: “Verizon offers some customers a bonus: Free Wi-Fi“), free Wi-Fi at Barnes & Noble and Starbucks (read: “Free Wi-Fi at Barnes & Noble for everyone!” “Free Wi-Fi at Starbucks — with restrictions“) or WiFiFreeSpot page, which lists cafes and businesses offering free Wi-Fi nationwide. If any one else knows a useful free Wi-Fi service, please point it out. Thanks!

Previous stories on free Wi-Fi:

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Can two types of Wi-Fi routers work together?

August 25th, 2009, 1:49 pm by

Stump the PC Club is a free tech-advice column written by members of the North Orange County Computer Club, which has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s site at noccc.org. And don’t forget to stop by the Gadgetress’ home for the PC Club, at ocregister.com/link/pcclub, to find out how to ask a question and read past answers.

QUESTION: I currently have a wireless G router and I am considering buying a 5 GHz N‑band router. Is it possible to set up two wireless routers in my home but still have computers and printers on either router communicate with each other?  If it is possible, how do I set that up? For example, if I have one of my laptops connect to the 2.4 GHz G band router, can it communicate with the desktop that is hardwired into the 5 GHz N Band router?  And can that laptop print to a wireless printer that is wirelessly connected to the 5 GHz N Band router?

PC CLUB: I have to admit that your question made my head swim. Typically, a home has one source of Internet service, be it DSL or cable. From there, Internet is connected to a modem and then to a computer. Many users add a router between the modem and the PC for several reasons: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Stump the PC Club • Wi-Fi & networking • • • • • • • • • • | 5 Comments »

Free Wi-Fi at Barnes & Noble for everyone!

July 31st, 2009, 11:20 am by

Spotted in my inbox to Barnes & Noble customers: Free Wi-Fi.

Barnes & Noble offers free Wi-Fi, courtesy of AT&T.

The service, announced earlier this week, is provided by AT&T. Seems like suspicious timing since Verizon’s also announced this week that it is offering free Wi-Fi to certain Internet customers at hotspots like Starbucks and Barnes & Noble stores.

Regardless, this is great news for people who like to park themselves at the cafe  for hours hogging tables and sipping the same cup of coffee while updating their Facebook status. (Of course, this is bad news for us customers who can’t find an empty table at these increasingly crowded cafes to drink a quick latte with a friend.)

The handy thing about this free service is that Wi-Fi is throughout the store, not just the cafe, so customers can wander the aisles and preview eBooks on a smartphone using Barnes & Noble’s free eBook reader. Or they can just page through the books in front of them on the shelf.

Anyway… Barnes & Noble has 10 stores in Orange County. Here’s a link to the store locator.

More on free Wi-Fi:

Posted in: Wi-Fi & networking • • • • | 4 Comments »

Verizon offers some customers a bonus: Free Wi-Fi

July 27th, 2009, 1:27 pm by

Verizon starts offering free Wi-Fi access to certain Internet customers.Free Wi-Fi got a boost today after Verizon began offering free access to its slew of wireless hotspots – but only to certain Internet customers. 

Those in that lucky free-Wi-Fi group include two types of Internet customers: FiOS users who spend $65 or more for Internet and get download speeds of at least 25 megabits per second, and its DSL high-speed customers who pay $29.99 or more per month for 3 mbps speeds. The offer is good for new and existing customers, but existing customers do need to register online and download special connection software.

If you are like me and didn’t realize that Verizon even offered Wi-Fi hotspots, the telecom company teamed up with Boingo Wireless, one of the first hotspot aggregators. Today, Boingo announced that it renewed an agreement with Verizon to offer Verizon customers access to its 100,000 hotspots worldwide.

There’s no mention whether Verizon Wireless customers will also get some free Wi-Fi goodness. But if Verizon follows rival AT&T’s lead, free Wi-Fi for wireless customers could be coming, too. AT&T first offered residential Internet customers free access to its hotspots early last year. iPhone and other wireless users were added last fall.

The Verizon offer appears straightforward. There’s no mention that users must buy landline service, commit to two years or sign their life away. Of course, the only eligible customers are those with the previously mentioned Internet plans — up to four people linked to the same account can use the free service simultaneously.

But Verizon users who want to utilize the free service must first sign up. Details on that are at this link. A searchable list of restaurants (includes Starbucks), hotels and other sites that offer free Wi-Fi to Verizon users is available at www.verizon.net/hotspots.

For everyone else, I suggest hitting the Wi-Fi Free Spot web site to find out where you can log in for free in your neighborhood.

Earlier stories on free Wi-Fi on Gadgetress:

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Verizon’s ‘iPhone’ has arrived!

June 5th, 2009, 6:27 am by

Verizon "iPhone"It’s sleek, it has apps and it’s running on “America’s largest and most reliable network.” Folks, I got my hands on what could be Verizon’s iPhone.

It comes in a larger size — up to 32 gigabytes!  It also includes a separate battery for the modem and it’s even slightly smaller than last year’s version, though it has a bulky 3G modem attached to the back.

Of course, the phone isn’t perfect. Sometimes the modem falls off so I suggest using either Krazy Glue or Velcro to bind the two pieces together. And you have to use one of those Voice-over-Internet Protocol services, like Skype, to make phone calls.

But with that special modem, the phone turns into a portable Wi-Fi hotspot so you and four friends can surf the Internet on laptops, iPod Touches or other Wi-Fi devices anywhere,  including traveling at 65 mph on the Interstate. In a test, I had three friends mooching off its wireless Internet!

Verizon "iPhone" - making a call Verizon "iPhone" - back Verizon "iPhone"

Okay, yes, I’m obviously joking. Verizon isn’t coming out with an iPhone, although there have been plenty of rumors this week, including a non-denial from Verizon officials. But with Sprint releasing the Palm Pre tomorrow and Apple potentially announcing an updated iPhone next week, I thought it would be fun to show you how to build your own iPhone on the Verizon network.

I’ve been playing with Verizon’s new MiFi 2200, a mobile hotspot mentioned on the blog earlier (see “Wi-Fi hot-spot on the go for $15/day“).  When I held it next to an iPod Touch, I realized, hey, I’m holding a Verizon iPhone! The above scenario is completely real, but, of course, this isn’t an iPhone. I’ll post my full MiFi review later (hopefully) today. UPDATE: The review IS IN!

Lots more images below…

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Cell phones • Wi-Fi & networking • • • • • • | 17 Comments »

Sprint to offer mobile Wi-Fi gadget 2 weeks after Verizon

May 13th, 2009, 1:05 pm by

Sprint's mobile hot spot is Novatel's MiFi gadget.Just spotted: Verizon’s won’t be alone in offering Novatel Wireless’ MiFi mobile Wi-Fi gadget. Sprint just announced it too. Available in the first week of June for the same price as Verizon (or $99 after $50 mail-in rebate). Monthly service fees are between $59.99 (data only) to $149.99 (Sprint’s Simply Everything package). 

Sprint manages to one-up the Verizon offer saying it will be “the first in the U.S. to support MiFi’s GPS capabilities, allowing users to take advantage of select location and mapping applications.”

More on Sprint’s MiFi:

More on cell-phones:


Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local cell phone services 

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Wi-Fi hot-spot on the go for $15/day

May 12th, 2009, 12:10 am by

The MiFi 2200 from Verizon Wireless.Verizon Wireless introduced a handy little Wi-Fi gadget to help your wireless cloud travel with you, literally. Even when you’re in a moving vehicle. The company is calling the MiFi 2200 the “World’s Smallest Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot.” 

While the concept is far from new (D-Link Systems, for one, has offered 3G mobile routers with slots for a wireless broadband computer card for years), Verizon is offering service with the MiFi 2200. That means hand over $150 (get $50 back after rebate), sign over two years of your life and pay monthly fees of $40 to $60. 

Those fees really add up. And most consumers, and even companies, don’t really need to use a mobile hot spot every day, right?  I mean how many corporate caravans to Vegas does one do every year? 

But there is a cheaper option available. Buy the MiFi from Verizon Wireless at its full price $270 price and pay $15/day to use the service. No contract, no monthly fees, no worries!

Of course, you could lose the teeny 2-ounce MiFi, which measures 3.5-inch by 2.3 inch by 0.4 inch. To help you see how slim and trim that actually is, I’ve laid it out for you against one of the most familiar gadgets in the world, the Apple iPhone: 

Verizon's new MiFi 2200 hotspot compared to the iPhone. 

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Cell phones • Gadgets • Wi-Fi & networking • • • • • • | 3 Comments »

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