By Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY Kurt Peterson knows how to pick his Wi-Fi. "I go anywhere I can get it for free," he says. "Why should I pay? Enough people do it for free." Peterson, a Los Angeles union organizer, has been spotted, laptop in hand, cellphone dangling from ear, at a Panera Bread store near Los Angeles International Airport. Panera, like Schlotzsky's Deli, Krystal restaurants and other independent cafes, libraries, parks and a growing number of cities, offers free wireless Internet access. No strings attached. (Related item: Find a hotspot) The trend marks a major change from well-publicized efforts by companies such as Starbucks, Barnes & Noble and FedEx Kinko's as well as many hotel chains. They offer Internet "hotspots" at many locations for a fee ranging from $4 to $10 a day. Have a Wi-Fi laptop? You can access the Internet in seconds - after you fork over your credit card payment, register and sign in. JiWire, a company that tracks Wi-Fi use, says Wi-Fi service is available at 32,000 U.S. locations; 90% of them charge a fee. As the number of Wi-Fi hot spots grows, consumers will become less willing to pay for it, predicts JiWire CEO Kevin McKenzie. "We'll see more free Wi-Fi popping up, becoming a public utility like electricity and water." Stephen Staats, who runs a health care staffing firm, makes a point of visiting one of the Panera outlets when he's in Los Angeles. "I come here every day I'm in town because I love the free Wi-Fi," he says. "I have my own little office in a booth." How to find free signals Once you're equipped for Wi-Fi, check the Web to find out where you can pick up free signals. Wififreespot.com has listings for all 50 states, and separate pages for airports, hotels, RV parks and campgrounds, and vacation rental properties. Hotspot-locations.com and wifinder.com also have global locations. Neal Yanofsky, executive vice president of the 773-store Panera Bread chain, can't say for sure if he has sold more sandwiches since adding free Wi-Fi service in 2004. "We just think it's one more reason to come visit our cafes," he says. If visitors linger, that's OK, too. "It leads to food purchases." Other chains that offer free Wi-Fi include Diedrich Coffee, Apple retail stores and the EZ Lube auto service chain in California. And most independent coffee houses offer free Wi-Fi to try to lure business away from national chains such as Starbucks. Cities with free Wi-Fi Several cities are offering free Wi-Fi service to residents and visitors. In California, downtown areas of Long Beach, Hermosa Beach and Culver City have free Wi-Fi. Austin, Cleveland and Spokane, Wash., have Wi-Fi zones, and Philadelphia is building a Wi-Fi system for the entire city. Laptop users often drop into locations that don't advertise free Wi-Fi signals, only to discover a notice pop up on their computer screens that a wireless network is available. Signals could be coming from a nearby office or store. The signal may fade in and out like an old TV station with rabbit ears, but, hey - it's free. (One word of caution: In April, a Florida man was arrested for parking outside a St. Petersburg home and hacking into the owner's wireless home network.) Be careful when using Wi-Fi in public. If you're doing anything more sensitive than checking e-mail, wait until you get home, says McKenzie, whose firm sells $39.95 software to make surfing the Wi-Fi web in open cafes more secure. Still, companies such as Starbucks tout the security - and reliability - of their networks as one reason consumers should pay for access. These companies will continue to appeal to the business traveler who wants consistency, says Jim Sullivan, who runs wififreespot.com. "But the price has to come down. In any location with a paid hotspot, there will always be a free one nearby."
Free WiFi is about to come to an end. It is illegal to distribute a connection without authorization from the ISP. The ISP's are now scanning locations distributing the connections and filing charges. It is also illegal in many states for a user to access a connection without approval. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/04/us_wi_fi_legislation/
I remember reading an article a few months back about the first case that went to trial about a man that was stealing home users wireless internet but I cant remember what state it was in.
