I'm thinking of getting a laptop soon. Can you tell me what is the best free wifi for a laptop that's 15"? What kind of experiences good or bad have you had with a free wifi that's secure?
I am not sure what you mean by free WiFi Krissttina, any WiFi at home would be via your own broadband connection, which you would normally have to pay for. Outside your home in coffee shops airports or any other place that offers free WiFi will not be secure, but normally ok for browsing the internet, but not doing banking or any other activity that you would want to be private. The speed and reliability of any free service is very variable, and speeds are often slow. The size of the laptop doesn't matter and all current models will work with WiFi and some via a cable connection if they have an internal modem.
I am not sure just what you are asking here either, @Krissttina Isobe . You can't just pick a free wifi provider and sign up for one, you have to pay monthly to have wifi at your house, just like having cable television. The only free wifi would be when you go to a store or cafe that offers free wifi, and then you are just basically using their wifi while you are at the store. Then, you would be using whatever provider the owner of the store or cafe is using, just like @Terry Page was explaining to you. Again, it is like cable TV, when you go to a place that has their television playing, then you can watch for free. When they have public wifi, then you can connect for free; but only while you are at the store. Many public places do offer free wifi now; so you should be able to go to whichever place that you enjoy sitting , and use their wifi. The worst part will be having to lug that heavy laptop all over town with you to get to the places with free wifi. I grumble about carrying the iPad around, and it weighs almost nothing compared to a heavy laptop. But that is just me.
Home Wi Fi is the only secure one I know of and we pay for that with our Internet Service. Away from home, you can connect to any Wi Fi, that has it available, but I wouldn't do anything personal on that Wi Fi..........definitely NOT secure.
Well the above posting have really said it all. More information on your goals are needed to give you the answer you are looking for.
I've been reading that Smasung ChromeBook is wifi ready for instant use. I've also remember talking to some people about their laptop that they own and they have wifi that they connect to at home for free like what you would download. Anyway I was wondering about anything free, fast and secure wifi system for computers before I get a laptop. Do other computers like androids etc. come wifi ready to use instantly?
By the way I got a nickname Grasshopper (lol like in Kung Fu series) for I'm still learning, a lot of things, especially when it comes to computers. Life is for learning. (Grasshopper is asking again. LOL.) image from http://becuo.com/cute-grasshopper-clipart.
Okee-Dokee grasshopper, or @Krissttina Isobe. Here is how it goes. Simply put, NO WIFI is free because someone has to pay for it. If your neighbor allows you to connect to his, he pays for it. If the hamburger joint on the corner has free WIFI, they pay for it. The same with all restaurants, gyms, hospitals, motels, hotels,etc. They allow John Q. Public to access their connection in order to gin up business. Now, can you download a wifi hotspot for free? Yup...uh kinda. You still have to pay for something. Nothing is free. All the hotspot for your PC or laptop does is amplify an already existing wifi connection and you still have to have the password in order to access that location, unless of course, someone is willing to allow anyone to access their personal wifi connection for free and without a password. What is much, much simpler is to get a refurbished 2nd hand laptop, pad, tablet, or kindle and go down to your local burger joint and have a cup of tea and enjoy their network. (cheap) I understand that you cannot have a cellphone (for hotspot) or a cable modem in your home which would be much less expensive than a cup of coffee a day but trust everyone when they say, no WIFI is free. Everything you buy may be WIFI "ready" for connection, but the WIFI itself does not come with the package. It's almost time to spread your wings and fly grasshopper. There's a western breeze starting to blow and theres a big crop of information just up the hill to be harvested. Go get it!
All of the answers that you have received are pretty much correct. Someone always has to pay for whatever WiFi you might connect to. We stay in hotels a lot, and there are a lot of hotels that don't password-protect their guest WiFi connections, and some of those that do simply use "guest" as the password, so I suppose if you happened to live next to one of those, you could access free WiFi but, although you probably wouldn't be arrested, you would be stealing it, since it's intended for guests. I did once, when I was staying at a Comfort Hotel whose WiFi connection was really bad, and I noticed that the Travel Lodge next door had an unsecured WiFi connection that was much better, but it's best not to make a habit of that sort of thing.
Just one more word of advice Krissttina, you mentionrd Chromebooks which are good and cheap, I have one here on vacation, but they rely entirely on a WiFi connection to work at all, so not suitable for you really. If you intend to use the computer at home only, a laptop is fine, but out and about a tablet of some sort would be easier to carry around as others have mentioned.
Amazon's Kindle will work great picking up WiFi outside the home..My 10 inch tablet also picks it up.
I totally agree that a tablet is the way to go if you are taking it along with you traveling, or even just going out to find a free wifi spot to relax and check the Internet. Tablets are getting more and more capable all of the time, and (for the most part) you can do everything that you would do with a computer, and many times, it is SO much easier to use the tablet than it would be to do the same thing with a regular computer/laptop. I think that tablets are especially great for older people, mainly because of the ability to stretch the screen with your fingers, so that you can easily see or read something that is at too small a size on a plain computer. You can change screen size on a computer; but it is more of a permanent fix, and not like just stretching the screen out for a minute to look at a picture closer, or read small print. The other thing that I really love about a tablet, is that it fits in a purse, and you can easily carry it around with you when you are going somewhere and want to be connected. The choices of different apps for tablets also make it a good choice for us older folks. I use an app for most of the things that I do on my iPad. When you add a Bluetooth keyboard, then your tablet becomes a whole miniature laptop, that is easy to use and to carry around.
@Krissttina Isobe If you have AT&T at home, you will be able to access their wifi hotspots using your log in for your AT&T account. They seem to have quite a few of them in various places. I have AT&T, so have this available to me, but I am usually at home and access my home internet frequently via wifi on my tablet. If you have internet at home from someone other than AT&T, check to see if your provider has a similar offering.
This is not something that is likely to help out @Krissttina Isobe , since she does not have a cell phone (due to her mother (pacemaker) not allowing one), nor does she have internet in her home, which is why she has to use the computers at the library in order to come onto the forum and post here, or do anything else that she does online. Even if she does get a laptop, she will not be able to use it anywhere except for places that have public wifi, and she will have to carry it along with her whenever she wants to go online. The only other option would be for her to pay to have Internet access installed at her house, and then she could also use their public wifi, like you are doing with AT&T, and I can do with Comcast. However, the only way that works , is if you are already paying for Internet access with some company. I am not sure what the people meant who told Krissttina that they have a free wifi connection at their home, and perhaps it would help if she just asks them to clarify what they meant , and she can go from there.