Who offers free WiFi in my area?

The word “FREE” is very alluring! We often fantasize about many of our favorite things, which, if we got free, could have changed our lives. Talking about the internet, it would be fantastic if we could get it for FREE! Yes, there are few ways by which you can earn this WiFi Fidelity at no cost. Let us talk about a few generic mediums.

Depending upon your location, you can get access to Public Internet WiFi Hotspots.

Public Internet WiFi Hotspots

It was on December 09, 2020, that the Department of Telecommunication (DoT), Government of India, made the announcement about setting up Public WiFi Networks across the country in the form of the PM-WANI ecosystem. WANI stands for WiFi Access Network Interface. This Digital India Initiative targets to set up approximately 700,000 WiFi hotspots in rural parts of the country.

Therefore, if you are from a rural area, very soon your internet problem will be resolved. Being a big project, the PM-WANI ecosystem will take time to start its full-fledged operations. But till then, there are few other options which you can access.

Railway Stations

You can have access to free WiFi via RailWire, which is a free high-speed public W-Fi service. It is available in more than 6000 railway stations across India. In this WLAN network, you can enjoy 30 minutes of high-speed internet at 1 Mbps for free. Henceforth, to continue using it at higher speeds, you have to choose plans at a very nominal price.

The plan varies from Rs. 10 per day to Rs. 75 per month for WiFi internet at 34 Mbps speed. You can access this WiFi service from your WiFi-enabled phones. The process to login into this network is as follows:

• Reach your nearest RailWire-enabled Railway Station.
• Switch on the WiFi settings of your smartphone and search for “RailWire”. It is “RailTel” if you are in Konkan Railways station.
• Go to railwire.co.in from your mobile browser.
• The website will prompt you to enter your mobile number.
• Enter your mobile number and click “Receive SMS”.
• You will receive an SMS with an OTP at your provided number, which you have to input in the WiFi login screen.
• After entering the four-digit OTP, click “Done”. You will be connected to the WiFi network.

In this case, you can access free WiFi internet at the maximum speed of 34 Mbps. What to enjoy up to 1 GBPS speed? Go through a Quick Feasibility Check!

Free WiFi Spots in Cities

If you are not travelling, it would never make sense to travel to and sit in a railway station just for the internet. As a solution to this problem, we suggest you search for free WiFi spots in your city. You can avail this benefit if you are from any of these following cities -

• Ahmedabad
• Bengaluru
• Chennai
• Gurgaon
• Hyderabad
• Kolkata
• Lucknow
• Mumbai
• New Delhi
• Patna
• Visakhapatnam

You can access this facility for 30 mins and henceforth can opt to recharge with prepaid vouchers for further use. This programme is controlled by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Other Spots to get Free WiFi

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Apart from Railway Stations and free WiFi zones, you can also access free internet at airports, restaurants and cafeterias, hotels and resorts and various community centers in India. In all these places, you need to login into their WLAN in a way similar to that of RailWire. In a few places it is easier. You can login by providing the host password.

But the concern is that would it be feasible to travel up to railway stations and airports just to access free WiFi Internet. It is very much evident that these facilities are provided by the Government and organizations as their CSR activity for travellers. So although these facilities are economical, there are reasons why it is not suitable for everyone.

Why is Free Public WiFi not Suitable for All?

1. Free WiFi is not completely FREE

   As you saw the options, nowhere can you get WiFi internet completely free of cost. If we take Railway Stations into consideration, investment is needed to travel there, and you have to take a platform ticket to go in. You can never access RailWire from outside the railway station premises. This supports the fact that, actually, it is not free.

2. Compromise the Privacy

   All these public free WiFi zones are usually crowded. You can never get your private space at these places. Therefore, if you need the internet for some private or confidential purpose, you are a sufferer in this case.

3. Chances of Uncertainty

   It can happen that when you reach the free WiFi zones, the quota of users is filled up. This will not allow the server to accept your connection request. For example, RailTel in Konkan Railways supports 300-500 users at a time.

So, the option which makes you compromise with your privacy, confidentiality and is uncertain may not be a wise choice. You can get bundles of free WiFi resources in your area, but you can never get a speed of up to 1 GBPS.

It is always a wise decision to go for secure and fast internet options nowadays. It was in the 90s that the internet was a service of luxury. But now it is one of the basic needs for both of our personal and professional activities. The intensity of this requirement has even forced the Government to set up the PM-WANI ecosystem across India.

If you are looking for high speed, secure internet with excellent bandwidth, always go for the best and reliable services. Be it for your business or personal use, you are just a few clicks away from ACT (Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd.), the best Internet Service Provider.

Read tips and tricks to increase your wifi speed here