This site is closed to new comments and posts.

Notice: This site uses cookies to function.
If you are not comfortable with cookies then please don't browse this website.

Free Public WiFi? — Brooklynian

Free Public WiFi?

leeho
edited November -1 in Prospect Heights
So, I was looking at available wi-fi networks and noticed Free Public Wi-Fi in my Computer to Computer connection availability. Anybody know what that is and who is providing it. I just did a brief, brief search and couldn't get any info. I'm near St. Johns and Washington.

Comments

  • if you were asking in general i was going to say that they have it in/around the library, but that's probably way too far for you to be picking it up, right? i'm interested to see where it's coming from though...
  • Could be that chicken and waffle place on Washington. Cafe Shane I think? It seems like the type of place that might have WI FI.
  • Sepia does wi-fi, but also probably too far from where you are...
  • maybe this is a stupid question, but what does it mean when my airport pull-down list of available networks lists "Free Public Wi-fi" and when i click on it it comes up with a different icon in my menu bar (a grey triangle/pie piece with a computer on it, instead of the usual concentric arcs)? i see this from time to time (especially on metro north), and it never seems to give me an actually usable connection, though it doesn't ask for a password or anything.

    this is different, btw, from how most networks -- passworded or not -- show up on my airport list.
  • You should never connect to a WiFi network you don't recognize; there are definitely some scammers who use this as bait.

    But generally, the "Free Public Access" that everyone sees occasionally is thought to be a weird manifestation of how Windows "remembers" the names of networks you've tried to link to. Here's the best explanation I've seen:

    http://blogs.chron.com/techblog/archives/2006/09/free_public_wif.html

    I'd be curious to hear if anyone who uses a Mac also sees a "Free Public Access" computer-to-computer connection when they scan for networks.
  • huh. i have a mac.
  • Slappy McBluelips wrote: Could be that chicken and waffle place on Washington. Cafe Shane I think? It seems like the type of place that might have WI FI.
    I think that Cafe Shane does have free WiFi. I was in there (damn good food, but crazy slow service) and noticed signs for it.
  • i get that same Free Public Wifi too... i'm on washington/st marks, though, so for sure it can't be the library...

    the odd thing about it is that it's listed under the "devices" section, not in the networks section in the drop down on my macbook - so that might explain the different symbol you were getting. tried to connect once, nothing happened.
  • I am in the range of about 12 WiFi signals, including my own, and all of them are password protected. Except one called "ShareYourWifi.org." It seems a little suspicious, so I never log onto it, even when my own system is down.

    Anyone hear of this?
Sign In or Register to comment.