Want Free Wireless Internet? Here's How! - Comments Page 1

Just because a neighbor is clueless enough to run Wi-Fi without a password does NOT give anyone the right to use that Wi-Fi. Unauthorized use of Wi-Fi is called Theft of Communication Services (or something similar) and is a felony in most, if not all, States. Even if it wasn't illegal, it would still be un ethical. You never should be ashamed for suggesting that such a practice would be acceptable.

When you access the "free hotspot" provided by the ISP's, are you not just hooking on to the service of another customer of that same service provider?

They say it is kept totally separate from the owner's service on their modem/gateway, yet how many times just this year have we found that things that are supposed to be private and secure are not?

An innocent customer could get slammed because of the types of downloads made by someone using their wi-fi. They say it won't, but see above.

Not for me. I do not want to be the hotspot, or use one via another's service. But that is just me. Maybe I am paranoid??

AVOID freedom pop unless you want permanent billing on your credit card or a lot of pain.
The change to the free version will not necessarily remove the charge from your bill but a lot of pain trying to get them to not lie to you may be successful.

@ Lucy: I don't know about any other ISP but I use TW/Spectrum I have an app that shows all the hot spots and they are ALL places of business. I frequent some of them and they don't even use WiFi there, they give it as a courtesy to their customers while waiting or shopping. Since they don't care, I use them as much as possible. And as far as I know, they get a discount on their bill for doing so.

I avoid the shared ISP WiFi hotspot by not using the ISP's router. I own my cable modem, routers. Yes I have to manage them and deal with problems. But I also have complete control over who is using them, etc. And I save the $10/month that Xfinity (Comcast) charges for modem rental.

If you are using free wifi or piggybacking onto a neighbor's wifi, do NOT shop online especially with a credit or debit card, do any online banking - or anything else where your personal information could be exposed to others. You'd be amazed how much personal information is exposed and/or stolen on unsecured networks.

I have FreedomPop on my backup backup backup phone. (Or something like that - I have to go through four others before finally reaching my last-ditch one: the one with FreedomPop.)
Having said that, FreedomPop is fine as a free backup. I actually have more talk and text available than I need on my number one phone, let alone number five. I use wi-fi for data and keep mobile data turned off except for emergencies. It really is free.
HOWEVER, it took me two tries to switch from the trial plan to the free plan. THEN I found out they had given me the free plan AND a paid plan. When I complained, they finally canceled the paid plan.

FREEDOMPOP ARE CROOKS !! IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO GET A LIVE PERSON ON THE PHONE FOR HELP UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO PAY !! A MONTHLY FEE .

EVEN IF YOU TELL THEM THAT YOU WILL TAKE THEM TO COURT THEY DO NOT RESPOND TO YOUR EMAILS .

IF I WERE NOT DISABLED I WOULD TAKE THEM TO COURT BELIEVE ME ,, YOU WILL BE SORRY SOONER OR LATER IF YOU TRY FREEDOMPOP ..

GET FREE PHONE CALLS FOR LIFE BY USING

https://voice.google.com/about

YOU WILL GET A FREE PHONE NUMBER THAT ALL YOUR FRIENDS CAN CALL TO REACH YOU AND ALSO BE NOTIFIED BY EMAIL WHEN PEOPLE ARE CALLING YOU AND MUCH MORE FOR FREE !!!!!

My son has Comcast/Xfinity and what they don't tell everyone is that, at least for the last 18 months their new Xfinity modems have two (2) signals. One signal is for their customer and may be password protected, etc. The other signal is not capable of being password protected by the customer. That signal is part of "their free WIFI network" that you see them advertising on TV.

Good luck to you if you try Freedompop... I had nothing but troubles with them and their service. After many tries on a Samsung Note 3 I use as my backup phone, I was finally able to finally get it working. Many hassles and hoops to jump through with an unknowing service reps through emails, until they put your request through to a tech who will solve the problem...
Remember this: Only one device per email address or you face multitudes of grief.
My plan at FreedomPop is a US$79.99 Annual 1GB Plan
Talk Unlimited Minutes
Text Unlimited Text Messages
Data 1 GB
Additional Data US$0.020 / MB

My main cell is unlimited through Boost Mobile for $50 a month :)

Annual

DON'T use freedom pop. THEY charge me $25 PER QUARTER. Saw the charge, called them and they signed me up for PREMIUM. Asked, What happened to "FREE."
They assumed I wanted "PREMIUM" with out asking me.
Lousy signal. (West Creek, NJ)

My first use of WiFi, and internet, while at home was through my neighbor's unsecured signal. I searched, found it, tried it to see if it would actually WORK. Then I talked to my neighbor, face to face, and asked for permission, which was granted. I used if for several months before he finally secured his signal (without mentioning it to me)o:
I then quickly purchased internet myself. lol

BBB in Los Angles rates freedompop at a B. About 425 ratings with 25% complaints. My own experience with them was horrible.

Here we go, again. The freerer it is the more likely it's very easy to hack, even by newbies. Just be nice, all the time, and don't say anything that could make you ransomable. Freerer and ransomable are not really words, but you get the picture.

This was very timely, Bob! I just spent 3 days trying to solve a problem with Verizon. After reading your article I signed up with Freedompop and as soon as my device arrives I'm canceling Verizon. Even at the full 4G monthly amount, I would still be paying only half of what I'm paying now and, hopefully with less headaches. I did read the fine print and I know that as soon as the free trial period ends they will charge the full 4G amount unless I downgrade so I will do that before the free month ends. Fingers crossed.

Hi Bob
I'm always interested in something for nothing.

Here in Europe we have something approaching free wi-fi. Several providers (BT in the UK, SFR in France)offer registered users access to any other user's router; the routers send two signals, one dedicated to the host, the other is a publicly available wifi signal for those travelling.

If my brother lived next door to an SFR router, he could use my SFR username and password to access unlimited download wifi. Maybe not free wifi but certainly "buy one get one free"....

We live in hurricane land, where houses are built of steel-reinforced concrete blocks and roofs have extensive steel tie-down strapping. Our cell phones only sometimes work inside the house. Hotspots rarely work inside the house. Consider this when considering these.

Mr. Rankin,
Your depth of knowledge, breath of coverage and lack of geeky gobbledygook never ceases to amaze me!
Someday soon, I would NOT be too surprised if you will be educating us on rocket science and performing lobotomy at home.

Kudos and thank you.

To GrannyM:
You many not see this in time and you many never see it, but I wouldn't cancel the Verizon service until your device arrives and you have actually tested it for a couple of months or more.

I tried to replace my AT&T service with FreedomPop and my findings are that:
1) I only get one bar on my cell phone signal unless I'm standing on top of a cell phone tower.
2) In making outgoing phone calls, forget it if you're in between metropolitan areas. If my call actually goes through, I can hear the person I called when they answer, but they can't hear me.

Just test your device thoroughly everywhere so you know what you're getting before cancelling your existing service.