It’s no longer difficult to find Wi-Fi when you leave the house. Hotels, restaurants, bars, transport hubs, sports stadiums, stores, city parks, and many other places offer internet connectivity nowadays, and access is often free if you’re willing to give up an email address.
That makes staying connected much easier, whether you’re working away from the office, or trying to keep up with your favorite TV show on vacation. But the increasing ubiquity and convenience of public Wi-Fi doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to make more of it—and to keep yourself better protected when you get online.
These networks are not the same as your home or office Wi-Fi, and that means there are different points to consider. Here’s how to stay connected to public Wi-Fi the expert way.
1. Improve Speeds
You’re somewhat limited when it comes to improving speeds on public Wi-Fi as you don’t actually control the network, but there are some ways to maximize performance. Keep your apps and browser tabs down to a minimum, for example, and maybe switch off those cloud storage syncs temporarily.
Experimenting with different positions can help secure you a faster connection. Even if you’re in a hotel lobby or a coffee shop, it makes more difference than you might think. The main router should be somewhere visible, so look for it. If there are multiple public Wi-Fi networks in your location, try switching to one lower down the list that fewer people may have connected to.
This isn’t always possible, but hook your laptop up to a wired Ethernet connection wherever you can, as you’ll see better speeds and less interference from other people. You can sometimes find wired connections in hotel rooms and coworking spaces, and if you frequent those places, it might be worth getting an adapter just for this purpose.
2. Use a VPN
A VPN is recommended when connecting to Wi-Fi.David Nield
This is a big one. VPN (virtual private network) apps are often sold as ways of spoofing your location and stopping other parties from tracking your online browsing, but they also work really well for staying safe on public Wi-Fi. Essentially, they make it much more difficult for someone else on the same Wi-Fi network to see what you’re doing.
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