Here in the US the Starbucks usually install themselves into some strip-mall next to other generic restaurants that give away WiFi, so I guess if you had to you could leech off of them. The one close to my house has a Panera Bread (sandwich shop) 20 yards away that offers free WiFi. If that doesn't work you can probably pick up an unsecured one, "linksys" seems to be a very popular service provider around here ha ha.

On a recent road trip we stopped at a couple of McDonalds and noticed that they are giving out an hour of free hotspot use with your purchase. Only way I knew about it was that the cash register receipt had a WiFi passphrase posted on it. I don't think that it is available in all locations.

We had a nice coffee shop with free wi-fi on the main pedestrian street in Sheffield. Then it closed and turned into a crappy Starbucks with rip-off wi-fi.

Why can't gov.uk let local people veto planning for these crappy American chains invading our cities?

I'd rather cough up for a 3G card and go to a PUB rather than drink a pint of phlegm-in-a-glass that Wetherspoons cough up

Great sandwiches, and free WiFi - I fail to see any drawbacks with this plan....

I mean, I can get T-Zone on my cell, so why the heck do I need to buy extra just to surf on a laptop?

Yeesh--at least I can still get my Komodo with room.

As another poster hinted at, a management buyout was effected in February. Neither the original founders nor McDonalds are involved any longer. The buyout is backed by GS and Bridgepoint.

Also, may I add that anyone who provides Starbucks with custom is an absolute c*#@.

But the food is rank.

Question: Would you eat McDonalds food just to get free WiFi.?

Nah.

I've found myself in McDonalds on a regular basis when out and about due to their free Wi-Fi, the Didcot branch just off the A34 proving very handy. It's a great way to get people in and the connection is always fast.

So big thumbs up to Maccy D's. The coffee is cheaper than Starbucks as well.

I've used Starbux in Newport,RI; Galveston; Norwich, VA;Statten Island, Manhattan & Seattle this year, and in every case wifi cost me around 5 bucks an hour. I've never seen free wifi in Starbucks.

Lots of little chef feature The Cloud, at quite a high price.

Amusingly my corporate VPN connects anyway, without paying...

A local Starbux has free wifi, courtesy of the hotel in which its situated, just off Junction 10, M6 ;) Great way to refresh yourself AND your e-mail after a couple of hours in the Gym.

I'm currently working regularly in Peterborough which means travelling by National Express with their 'free' wifi. It's slower than dial up, almost useless. Like someone else here I tried it 'on the train' but i haven't bothered for months.

And staying at the Holiday Inn Express (near the showground) where they charge (business rate, not walk up which is £90) £75 per night, they want £15 extra a day for wifi... or you could get the £11 per day version which 'allows simple web surfing'.

So I found a nice little b&b nearby - free wifi, freeview tv and Sky, beers for a pound and the owner picks me up when it's too wet to walk.Oh err.. £45 per night. If only the rest of the world worked that way, what do you reckon?

I wonder how much Paris would charge per night?

According to their website my nearest on is 60.4km away in Bristol - though I bet that's as the crow flies as most of those calculators think you can drive from Somerset to South Wales across the Bristol Channel. Don't think it's worth the petrol/train fare for free wi-fi.

Virtually every cafe, restaurant, etc. here in Romania has free wifi - if I'm not mistaken, the only places I've seen which charge are internet cafes (bizarrely) and some very very stupid hotels.

What's it like living in a technologically-backward country, UK folks? ;-)

i didn't know McD's did free wifi for customers because I never even go through the door.

But now I might. I can imagine paying a couple of quid for a "Mcburger" (or whatever their cheapest item is, I really have no idea, "royale with cheese" maybe) and then binning it and using the wifi. It's still probably cheaper than the other wifi options available (5 pounds for an half hour, 7 for an hour or 8 for a day type pricing plans).

Or even approach other customers (many of whom would be confused by the idea of the internet "whit d joo meen ah cin git pikshoors n moosic offov a wyur when there innt no wyur?) and ask for their receipt with the password printed on, then sit just outside or even scavenge receipts off the discarded trays (if you don't mind looking like a real freak for free wifi).

"Everybody be cool, this is a wifi robbery. Any of you punks go online and I'll execute every mother%£%@ing last one of you"

Their bacon sandwiches and coffee are nice, I have ended up binning the hash brown that comes with them a few times though. The nuggets used to be good, I've not had them for a while. All the burgers just up drop a sauce/mayo/lettuce combo down your front, so I avoid them.

To the person scavenging receipts for the password, if that's in the UK you don't need to. On the Cloud portal page that comes up, click the McDs logo and you get a page asking for your name and address. Enter any old rubbish in there, and you're away. The user name and password are for Cloud subscribers.

Alan.

the bloke serving us in a certain boozer in kirkintilloch didnt even know that they provided wifi in the first place. probably still doesnt. it was that pay as you go cloud crap anyway. luckily there are a few, as someone posted, "linksys" networks around said area which was quite unbelievable as one of 'em was a computer "repair" business / shop. which he can find out about for himself :D

quite amusing...

<quote>Not that I've got round to trying it yet, but apparently the Wetherspoons pub chain also does free wifi these days..</quote>

[checks blog] 'Spoons moved their free wireless internet out of trial phase last Christmas (article at http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/news/index.php?NewsArticleId=18691)

At the time, the stickers in the window suggested you could just switch on and surf and the staff (in my "local" at least, which hadn't been furnished with leaflets) tended to posit the same view; fortunately I'd been able to get a leaflet from another branch. Presumably the situation is better now.

It was nice to check my email over a great-value beer, in the name of passing the time.

...does free wifi - you just ask them for the key and away you go.

You can all come to my house and use my wi-fi for free if you're willing to pay silly money for a cup of hot water and tiny piece of cake :)

Screw the American chains and their rip-off culture of Central Perk style of coffee shops! Free wifi doesn't justify the open-wallet surgery every time I get dragged in for a coffee.

Hm... every single Starbucks I know here (Mexico City) has free WiFi. Some other restaurants have "not so free" WiFi, the catch being that you need to be using an ISP at home that has the WiFi service... which isn't a problem with me, anyway; I use one of those ISPs.

So basically, I've got free WiFi nationwide, either Starbucks-free (no passwords!) or ISP-served (thanks, Telmex/Prodigy!) I didn't even know some patrons rip off WiFi users.