We’ve all been there. Your flight is delayed or you have a wicked long layover. You fish out your smart phone and check the WiFi only to be blocked by a long list of password protected networks. Then you realize you can only walk around duty free so many times before you need to get online to pass the time. We guess you could read something written on paper like it’s 1994, but, come on, who carries actual books these days?! They’re heavy.
To remdy this, The Fox Nomad has started compiling WiFi access by airport and cataloging them in a handy interactive map — so you can ready yourself before you hit the departures lounge or land at a new airport. You’ll find that a lot of airports already have free WiFi when you peruse the map. And there’s definitely a lot of passwords that require you to be near a business lounge, which may be a bit conspicuous.
What makes the app really pop is the community-based comments section. You’ll find other wanderlusters dropping WiFi passwords from all over the world. The community seems to be embracing sharing the passwords helping us communicate around the world. Again, a lot of it is a listing of which airports already have free WiFi, but there are plenty of passwords from all over the world in there.
We’d be remiss not to mention that piggybacking (or using internet networks and WiFi you do not have permission to use) is frowned upon in many places, and straight up a felony in others. Most countries only care if there’s proof of piggybacking when it’s for illegal purposes. Others are way more stringent — Singapore’s punishment is $10,000SING (approx. $6,500) and/or 3 years in jail. People have been arrested from Singapore to England to the U.S.A. for simply using someone else’s WiFi without permission. Most of the time this is really hard to prove and/or get caught doing, but, hey, if you’re camped outside a first class lounge for an hour or two…
Travel wisely and remember countries have wildly different laws.
