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Wi-Fi hotspots Getting started with Wi-Fi hotspots

A woman using a wireless laptop at Starbucks

Many branches of Starbucks have Wi-Fi hotspots

What is a Wi-Fi hotspot?

A Wi-Fi hotspot is a public wireless access point, where you can connect to the internet at broadband speeds, similar to using a wireless router at home.

Most laptops and netbooks include wireless technology which can connect to these internet connections. 

This will be in the form of a built-in Wi-Fi chip, an additional Wi-Fi card, or a USB Wi-Fi adaptor. The latest Wi-Fi speed designation is 802.11n, so if your Wi-Fi adaptor supports this speed, it's the fastest currently available.

Are all Wi-Fi hotspots free?

Many Wi-Fi hotspots are free, often in commercial premises such as coffee shops, but most require you to pay in some form. There’s often a choice of payment method. If the hotspot is provided by a café you would pay for a hour of use, much as you would in an internet café. 

If the Wi-Fi hotspot is provided by BT Openzone, T-Mobile or The Cloud you can buy a voucher for the network that lasts you an hour, a day or even a month.

If you want to use wireless hotspots regularly, subscribe to a package. These give you unlimited usage or a set number of minutes on a particular provider’s hotspots every month, typically for £10 to £25 per month.

Where are Wi-Fi hotspots?

Public Wi-Fi is available a wide variety of locations, including:

  • airport terminals and lounges
  • pubs, bars, cafés and restaurants
  • city centres or business parks
  • clubs, schools, colleges and universities
  • hotels, conference centres and exhibition halls
  • railway stations, motorway service stations and shopping centres.

City-wide Wi-Fi

12 UK city centres operate an urban mesh of wireless networks - on the BT Openzone network. These include Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, Nottingham, Birmingham, Cardiff, Bristol, Portsmouth, and Westminster and Waltham Forest in London.

Using Wi-Fi hotspots abroad

Some Wi-Fi hotspot operators have roaming agreements with international operators. For example, BT Openzone offers International Vouchers for 500 minutes of flat-rate web access (valid for 14 days) that can be used worldwide including the USA, South Africa and Australia. 

For more on surfing the net when you're out and about, see Which? advice on mobile broadband services.

For more on using laptops and mobile devices, see our book Laptops and Mobile Devices Made Easy.