free-hotspot.com - Using FREE HotSpots

Using FREE HotSpots

What is FREE Wi-Fi?

How does it Work?

Before you start

How to connect

Common Questions

Help

Email User Support

to suggest a free HotSpot location!

Before You Start

In order to get up and running at a FREE HotSpot, you need a PC or Mac laptop or personal digital assistant (PDA) with wireless (Wi-Fi) connectivity. Otherwise, you shouldn't need any new hardware or software (unless you buy a wireless access card).

Follow the 3 steps outlined below before you start:

Check Laptop and/or PDA
Laptops that have the new Intel® Centrino™ mobile technology with integrated Wireless LAN capability will work automatically.

Most new laptops are wireless enabled, otherwise you need an IEEE 802.11g wireless access card (e.g. PCMCIA card). You can order a wireless access card from free-hotspot.com or from your local computer store.

Ideally your laptop/PDA should be running Microsoft Windows XP (Home, Professional, Tablet PC, Media Centre, AMD 64-bit edition) or Windows 98 or 2000.

Linux users need to be using operating system 2.2 and above. Apple Mac users need to be using operating system 9.0 and above.

If you have a Personal Data Assistant (PDA), Microsoft Pocket PC 2002 and above or Palm OS 4.0 and above are the preferred operating systems.

Check drivers and settings
If you've added a wireless access card, please check you've correctly installed the drivers and the card by referring to the card's instructions. Windows XP has built-in drivers for most wireless cards.

Check wireless settings
Before starting to use a FREE HotSpot, your wireless settings should be:

1. Service Set Identifier (SSID) set to 'free-hotspot.com' (case sensitive and no spaces)
2. Network type set to 'infrastructure'
3. Wireless network key (WEP) disabled

If you access a company network using your laptop, you may have to disable your Internet Explorer proxy settings.

If you need assistance, please call free-hotspot.com on 00800 28 25 23 26 (where available).