Free WiFi Hotspots in the Philippines
Updated January 2010.After returning from Australia, I instantly noticed the large banner at Megamall: FREE WI-FI! Apparently, all SM Malls now offer free WiFi. This really helped my wife and I to survive our Internet-less house for almost two months (can you believe?). Megamall became our virtual office during those Net-less days.
ORIGINAL POST
WiFi technology is becoming friendlier and our country is starting to get free WiFi spots. I envy some parts of the US where wireless internet connection is already free.
But we have to content ourselves with the smattering of free WiFi here. I am hoping the paid WiFi services in cafes will soon be overtaken by free WiFi. This makes sense to me because when I'm in a cafe spending hard-earned pesos on expensive coffee, a freebie like WiFi would definitely keep attracting me to return.
In the interest of every mobile computer user, here is a list of free WiFi hotspots. If you know of others, please post a comment or send it to my email: rubencanlas(at)gmail(dot)com.
I hope the list grows longer, sooner.
Metro Manila
- Megamall and all SM Malls, including The Podium at Ortigas Center and SM Supercenter (aka SM Hypermart) on Julia Vargas.
- Blenz Cafe at Megamall. Buy coffee and ask the cashier for a password. I know this is inside Megamall, but it's a good place to meet and run a mobile office.
- McCafe and McDonalds. I tried McDonalds in Bohol and they had a password-protected WiFi (just ask any of the staff for the password -- no purchase needed). In Australia, all McCafe's had free WiFi. Hopefully this will also be true here, soon. Some require a password, some don't. WiFi isn't reliable though in most of these McCafes.
- Krispy Kreme (all branches, I think). Buy a donut and ask the guys for the password.
- Robinsons Galleria (Ortigas) at the East Wing. Strongest signal is at Bo's Cafe on the basement.
- Robinsons Pioneer (EDSA corner Pioneer). The cafes on the second floor offer free WiFi.
- Shangri-La Hotel in Makati. Babes and Apin tipped me off on this. For the price of coffee at the hotel lobby, you get fast internet connection.
- PowerPlant at Rockwell in Makati has WiGo. You need to download a WiGo java applet and run it to be able to surf. This will display an annoying banner across your screen with rotating ads on it.
Pampanga
- Free WiFi at Villa Victoria, San Fernando, Pampanga c/o my router. Password: Patrickpogi. (From Patrick Burguete Canlas)
CAUTION: free WiFi also means that the connection is unencrypted. If you have sensitive communication, you need to exercise some caution (probably by using at least some encryption like Gnu PGP).
FREE WIFI
the araneta center in cubao has free wifi, too! i'm not sure if you can also get a signal inside the gateway mall. but most probably. kasi, nakaka-wifi din ako sa Razon's eh! (near shopwise) :-)
The Coffeebean and Tea Leaf T
The Coffeebean and Tea Leaf Tomas Morato
Shakey's Rada
Food Parks in PBCom Tower, LKG and The Enterprise
Pier 1 Ortigas
Gnu PGP
Do you use it? How well does it work? Thanks
R. Dell
http://www.golendershopping.com
Aling Lucing's Sisig at Pasong Tamo
Hi BenC, while eating sisig at Lucing's, you can get 56mbps if you're alone. When there are more users, the speed geometrically drops. I don't think it's the restaurant's connection, maybe it's from one of the condo units nearby.
Nice thread. Sana may summary page ka na sorted by area, continiously updated, with verification/feedback. I asked the coffee guy at StarBucks Walmart and he said naka-prepaid wifi daw sila, didn't get to try it though. Am not sure if it's already on your list but I hear Caltex at the end of Pasay Road along Edsa also offers a free hotspot.
James
Cebu WiFi
From dorm-mate James L.:
hi benc. free wi-fi also at waterfront Cebu in all their common areas.
signal was weak though when i was there last holy week. hope it has
improved but its noteworthy since hotels usually charge an arm and a leg
for internet service.
more lists
Sent in by my friend Allen:
So here goes:
1) Shell Magallanes
2) ALL Robinson’s Malls
3) Petron Makati
4) Murphy’s, along Esteban Ave.
5) Old Swiss Inn, The Atrium, Makati
6) Podium - From Neolex
7) Libreria - Along Tomas Morato, From Noelle
8) Starbucks WalMart, Pasong Tamo - From Bernie
9) Shangri-La Makati - Confirmed by Art Ilano
10) Cafea - Found it near the ABS-CBN complex, besides Singles
I got this from Mobile Philppines. http://www.m-ph.com/internet/freebie-update-iii/
Have fun,
Allen
Privacy tools for secure browsing at http://hacktivismo.com/
Check out Torpark, a modified version of the Firefox web browser, which sends your requests and received information in encrypted form, via a secure proxy network. So if you're using a free wi-fi connection with this tool, then intercepted packets over that wi-fi link cannot be read by anyone else.
It's actually designed for use in places with draconian monitoring of internet communications, repressive regimes like China, Vietnam, etc...
From their site:
"Torpark causes the IP address seen by the website to change every few minutes to frustrate eavesdropping and mask the requesting source. For example, a user could be surfing the Internet from a home computer in Ghana, and it might appear to websites that the user was coming from a university computer in Germany or any other country with servers in the TOR network.
It is important to note that the data passing from the user’s computer into the TOR network is encrypted. Therefore, the user’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) cannot see the information that is passing through the Torpark browser, such as the websites visited, or posts the user might have made to a forum. The ISP can only see an encrypted connection to the TOR network."
Torpark or jap is nice soluti
Torpark or jap is nice solution
and vpn is better than other but is not free:)
learn chinese language
Good post, boyong. Thanks!
Good post, boyong. Thanks!