How to Get Free Wi-Fi at Airports that Charge for Internet Connections

If you're stuck at an airport that charges for Internet connections, here's a solution: Go to the gift shop and ask for a a free Wi-Fi pass.


That's what happened to me last week. I was in LaGuardia Airport and my flight -- surprise, surprise -- was delayed. I decided to use that gift of time to check my e-mail and do a little bit of work. So I charged up the laptop and tried to go online. No luck. The airport offered a pay-as-you-go system called "Boingo" and I was not able to hitch a ride on any of the other unsecured Wi-Fi systems.

But while looking at the Boingo pay-now portal, I noticed that there was slot for a promotional code. HMMM?


Minutes later in the gift shop, I saw a stack of "15 minutes Free Wi-Fi" coupons from Boingo. Boingo provides Wi-Fi at over 500 airports, 17,000 hotels (Marriotts & Hiltons, etc) and 9,000 McDonald's.


Hmm. The clerk gave me a Boingo card and I sat down to log on for free minutes. The promotional code did not work, but I called the tech support number and the Boingo customer rep offered me a complimentary code that would get me online while I was waiting for my flight.

That did the trick. My flight was called and I had no need for the free pass. But I learned the following lessons:


1) Inquire about free Internet passes at the airport gift shops.


2) If there are no passes, go to the fee-based Wi-Fi portal (web site) and look for a toll-free number. Ask the customer rep for a promotional code that will provide you with free minutes.


By the way, the customer service number for Boingo is 1-800-880-4117. I'm keeping that number with me when I travel.
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I'm hosting a Q&A session at a Wise Bread Forum. Please stop by and say hi . Your questions and comments are appreciated.

Here's the note from the folks at Wise Bread:

"For this entire week (8/18- 8/24), Sharon Harvey Rosenberg (The Frugal Duchess) will be answering questions in our forum about blogging, personal finance, and her new book Frugal Duchess: How to Live Well and Save Money Anywhere "

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Here's how to buy my new book:

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My Free WiFi Comments on CBS4

With my roaming laptop, I've tapped into a number of free WiFi locations. My favorite temporary-office locations include the Dunkin Donuts shop in my neighborhood, a Whole Foods grocery store in Coral Gables, area malls and airports. The following website -- www.wififreespot.com -- is great for tracking down free wireless connections in different states and cities.

My hunt for free wireless Internet connections was recently featured on CBS4 in Miami. This television report -- with a few warnings about Internet safety -- ran on June 21.

Here's a link to the report, which includes a print version and an online link to the news report. The news clip appears in the little video box next to the print version story. Click on the box, and the story will appear after a short 15-second commercial:

"Free Wi-Fi Just A Click Away CBS 4 - Miami,FL"

I'm grateful to consumer reporter Al Sunshine for including me in his news report. Special thanks to Donna Thomas, special projects producer, and John DuMontelle, news photographer. Thanks!

Britney Steals Lighter: Other Items the Rest of Us "Borrow"

Britney Spears has allegedly stolen a lighter from a Chevron gas station store, according to People magazine. She's not alone: Many of us, aware or not aware, have tapped into the five-finger discount. Here's how:



1. Borrowed, but did not return a pen or pencil at a bank, customer service desk or grocery store. For me, this little theft works like this: "May I borrow that for a minute?" I sign the card, check or document and then mindlessly slip the pen or pencil into my pocket. Oooops. I am now making a big effort to return a pen right after I've used it.



2. Buffet extras: Sure it's all you can eat, but not all you can take away. Taking a to-go platter from a buffet is stealing unless you've asked the manager for permission or have paid for take-out. Amy Dacyczyn addresses this issue in the Tightwad Gazette.



3. Condiments and sugar to go. A few restaurants in Florida have a lock-down on their Splenda. When the yellow packets are out on the table, people swipe Splenda by the fistfuls. Putting lots of sugar/sweetener in your coffee is fine, but preparing a sweet take-out package may also qualify as a five-finger discount.



4. Unfair use of children's discounts: It's so expensive to go to out. For example, at Disney, adult prices kick in at age 10 or 11, which means that I pay adult fares for my sons, including my 12-year-old, who still looks very young. But it's wrong to pass kids, teens and tweens off as younger in order to qualify for cheaper tickets for theme parks, movies or other events.



5. Under the radar cable hook-ups or electric connections. A few families were busted in South Florida a few years ago for using a bypass connection for their electricity. Somehow, they were able to rig-up some connection or fix the meter so that they could light up their homes without paying for the juice. Ditto with cable connections. Personally, I prefer to watch tv on the Internet. (How I Get Cable Shows For Free)



6. Jumping the line: When we cut into any line: at a theme park, bank or movie, we are actually stealing time from the people behind us.



7. Goldbricking. Okay, most of us have done this. But if you're shopping on company time or writing the Great American Novel when you should be proofreading a company report, you are stealing time from the company.

Here is another version, with photos, of the alleged lighter theft:
Britney Spears Steals A Lighter From The Gas Station

Here are links to my other Britney stories:



Britney & Celebrity Economics: The Perfume & Cents of Fame

Britney's DIY Haircut & $500 Emergency Funds: My Weird & Frugal News Wrap

Advice for Britney Spears: Go Frugal; Cover Your Assets & Learn from JLo

Off Topic Rant: Leave Britney Alone



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Digg!

The Frugal Duchess Booktique
The Frugal Duchess of Beauty Store

Book Shop of Fear
The Poetry & Drama Queen
Frugal Jazz & Blues
Frugal Comic Book Connection
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Use Cyberspace, Drive a Camry, Wear Jeans & Die: The Best Consumer Deals in '06

The Internet, denim and death represented some of the best deals for consumers in 2006. Based on consumer prices listed on a chart in the Wall Street Journal, I crunched some numbers and came up with a list of the best deals in life. In the Jan. 2 issue, WSJ provided price checks on a menu of average consumer services and products based on prices for 2004-2006.

Bottom Line: It's cheaper to die than to be born.

Based on my calculations of price changes, here's:

My List of the Best Frugal Deals:*

......Item.........2006 price....2006 vs 2005 change.............2006 vs 2004


Monthly Internet......$42.95..........0%........................... 0%

Jeans........................$39.50..........0%........................... 0%

Toyota Camry......$19,725.00..........1%........................... 3%

Movie Ticket...............$6.51..........2%........................... 5%

Funeral................$6,940.00..........3%........................... 6%

Birth...................$8,162.00..........3.2%........................ 13%




*(Later today --if I don't space out -- I will post a list of the worst deals)



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The Frugal Duchess Boutique
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Web Pages That Suck.com

Want to make more money on your site?

There's help: Web Pages That Suck.com is the actual name of a website featured in a New York Times Article: How to make your web site sing.

Web Pages That Suck provides links to websites that are hard on the eye or the mind and the features include the "Daily Sucker." It is a very informative and entertaining site.

A site must have addictive content, said Vincent Flanders, a Web design consultant in the Seattle area who is the creator of Webpagesthatsuck.com, a site that analyzes why some pages do not work. “People must be willing to crawl through a sewer for it. --from the New York Times

Personally, when it comes to blogs, I am especially fond of the content and design of Millionaire Artist and Dumb Little Man. Those sites sing to me.

But I've also picked up a few pointers from the New York Times piece and the sucky website site.

1. The front page counts most.
The first screen view is important. In newspapers, it's called above the fold (that top half of the front page). Not everyone scrolls down to the lower half of the screen.

Studies by Mr. Nielsen’s company, the Nielsen Norman Group, an Internet design firm in Fremont, Calif., show that only 50 percent of Web visitors scroll down the screen to see what lies below the visible part on their PC monitor.--NYT

2. Grammar is important.

3. Get rid of unnecessary items: Too many bells and whistles can be a turnoff.

4. Avoid "Mystery Meat Navigation," which are links that don't tell the reader where they are going. Like this. (Hint: it's a link to an article about mystery meat links.)

5. Don't be long winded. And on that note. I'm signing off.

Here are other links to articles about blogging and money that I found helpful.

1.Blogging for customers from Forbes

2.40 ways to make money on the Internet from Dumb Little man

3.7 ways to make the most of your blog from Folksonomy, which was featured on Cyberjournalist.net.

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The Frugal Duchess Boutique
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Big-Ticket Success with Small-Ticket Costs

Today's New York Times has a great feature about entrepreneurs who have taken a frugal path to creating big-ticket success on the Internet. The profile includes comments from the founder of Digg.

In the last couple of years, hundreds of other Internet start-up companies in Silicon Valley and elsewhere have followed a similar trajectory. Unlike most companies formed during the first Internet boom, which were built on costly technology and marketing budgets, many of the current crop of Internet start-ups have gone from zero to 60 on a shoestring.--New York Times

Here's the link.


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The Frugal Duchess Boutique
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