The Wi-Fi hotspot is nothing short of a phenomenon for wireless computing. Since it made the internet publicly available, this technology enabled laptops to be truly mobile computers. While not every country has picked up on this technology yet, there are several major cities and areas in the world where it has been adapted. Below is a list of some of the typical places where you can find Wi-Fi hotspots.
1. Coffee shops
- have gained popularity as places where people can meet and have a good cup of coffee. But today, coffee shops have now also become hubs for internet users. The good thing here is that, they offer free and unlimited internet connection to their patrons usually by just making a minimum purchase.
2. Hotels
- more and more hotels offer this service which is mainly geared towards business travellers. They can be accessed in hotel rooms and lobbies. The only downside here is that they are usually paid separately from the room rates and can be quite expensive.
3. Airports
- Wi-Fi hotspots can now be found in major international airports. This is also mainly geared towards business travellers who may want to check their e-mail just before boarding the plane.
While hotspots are great places to get free internet connection, people should also be aware that most of them are unsecure.
It means that the data that anyone sends through the network may be read by hackers and could be used for criminal activities such as identity theft. Users can protect themselves by not visiting websites that require sensitive information when connected to unsecure networks.