Tag: WiFI

Is it hard to find free Wi-Fi in London?

Is it hard to find free Wi-Fi in London?

Posted on by worldcityguides

I am a bit worried. I will go to London before Christmas and need to work from my laptop during my stay. Is it hard to find free Wi-Fi in London?

Traveling to London for work and leisure at the same time is more and more common. In fact not only people doing business travel is in need of Wi-Fi / Internet access, but it is just as important for normal travelers in these days. After all, what are you supposed to do with all those images saved to your phone? You are for sure supposed to upload them to Instagram and Facebook and maybe send them to your family at home using WhatsApp. It can however be a very expensive activity to send high resolution images like that using a 3G or 4G connection. For that reason you need to use a Wi-Fi connection, making sure that you will not be charged for the data you use. So, how can that be done? Is it hard to find free Wi-Fi in London?

free-wifi-in-london

How hard is it to find free Wi-Fi in London?

It is just as hard to find a free Wi-Fi in London as it is to see red buses. Is that hard? No, not at all! It is very easy to find free Wi-Fi in London, but you should be aware of the fact that free Wi-Fi often comes at a cost. What do I mean?

If you decide to grab a cup of coffee in Starbucks while in London you will be offered free Wi-Fi. But, to be able to enjoy the free Wi-Fi you will have to buy your coffee first, and that ain’t free. If you visit a restaurant you will need to order first and then you can use the free Wi-Fi. So, it comes for free, but you will often have to purchase something first in order to use the free Wi-Fi available at the place.

The same is true with hotels!

Most hotels come with free Wi-Fi available for their visitors. A general advise is to check out this as you book your hotel. Read through the hotel policy when it comes to Wi-Fi, and check out whether it is free or if you have to pay extra for this. Often hotels will charge you a lot for Wi-Fi (if it isn’t included), so make sure to check it out before you book your room.

Now you might just want to enter into a hotel to use their Wi-Fi, but normally it doesn’t work that way. The Wi-Fi code to the hotel network is normally written down inside the hotel rooms themselves, meaning that they do not have open and free networks, but password protected and encrypted networks. If you ever meet a hotel with free open Wi-Fi you should however be careful actually using that, because such connection are easy to interrupt and people with bad intention can take use of your confidential data. If you hotel is using an open Wi-Fi network without password protection, we suggest that you use a VPN to remain safe! You can read more about VPN connections and services here.

Some hotels with free Wi-Fi in London

Would you like to get the names on some of the hotels with free Wi-Fi in London? Look no further.

  • Corinthia Hotel London – one of the most exclusive and best hotels in all of London.
  • Egerton House Hotel – said to be one of the best hotels in London and currently rated as the third best by TripAdvisor. That is a fantastic rating, so a brilliant place to stay with free WiFi.
  • The Levin – a four star hotel, not as luxurious as the two mentioned hotels, but still a perfect solution if you need a free Internet connection in your hotel room while in London.

We can not guarantee that these hotels will have free Wi-Fi available forever. Please check as you do your London hotel booking at booking.com.

Enjoy your stay and please write a comment if you have something on your heart!

 

Be careful with open WiFi and HotSpots when traveling

Be careful with open WiFi and HotSpots when traveling

Posted on by worldcityguides

privacy onlineWhen we are out traveling and visiting major cities such as London, most of us bring portable devices alon on the trip such as mobile phones, tablets, iPads and laptops. The intention is to use hotspots and open WiFi networks around to connect these devices to the Internet, and thus you can connect to the rest of the world using the Internet.

It is very useful when you are out traveling to have such an opportunity. You can check your emails everywhere, upload some new pictures to your Facebook profile, and stay in touch in the world, even when you are just enjoying a coffee in a Starbucks somewhere. But, it is worth being careful when doing so. In most chances no harm is done, but for people with a piece of insight it is no problem stealing passwords and finding private information about you as you use open WiFi networks in your hotel, in cafes and restaurants around the world.

What is the main problem?

The main problem is that the data you send to and from your computer in an open network travels unencrypted. Anyone good at fishing can easily get hold of that information sent unencrypted, and thus confidential information that you send, will not be as confidential anymore, at least not if abused. Luckily few people abuse such information, but it is still worth watching out, to make sure that it does not happen to you. So, how can you take care of your privacy and private data when using open networks?

How to protect your privacy in open networks?

Let us say that you are living in a hotel in London where you are offered a free WiFi connection, and of course you are planing on using, after all that is why you brought your iPad to London in the first place. But, since you want to protect yourself, here are some steps worth following:

  1. Open Facebook, and make sure Secure Browsing is enabled (Account – Security – Secure Browsing). If this is turned on you will see the Facebook address changed from http://www.facebook.com/ to https://www.facebook..com/
  2. Gmail uses the https:// by default, so that should be good. If you did not know it, https is an abbreviation for “Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure.“
  3. When typing in usernames and password online, make sure that the address of the site is https:// and not http://.
  4. These are small steps, but the very best solution if you want to surf the Internet safely and for sure protect your data, passwords, usernames and card numbers, a VPN connection is the best. This will encrypt all your data and make sure that no sniffers in a local network can find and get hold of your data. A VPN connection cost a very small amount of money, but it will protect your data and encrypt it, making it impossible to steal whatever content you send online. Want to know more? Read more about what a VPN really is and does.

Our favorite VPN service is HideMyAss, so if you are interested in using it, read the following review and go try it for yourself.

If you have further advices and thoughts on securing your Internet connection as you travel to London, drink coffee in Starbucks and enjoy a ride with the London Eye, write a comment and share whatever is on your heart.