One of the reasons why some airports, hotels, cafes and malls are working better than others is the “Free Wi-Fi”. However, we often forget that you are paying for these Wi-Fi connections with your personal data and other data points that the providers could use or sell to data collectors. It’s great that all these places offer free Wi-Fi to customers.
And the worst thing is, at many of these places, these free Wi-Fi is limited to 30 minutes or less, but many are starting to employ time limits to limit how long you spend in their establishments. Whatever the case may be, if you want to hang out longer than allowed, we generally require nothing more than a few clicks.
The solution would work practically everywhere ranging from airports to hotels to all coffee shops around the world that limit your time to access their free Wi-Fi service.
How To Restrict Free Wi-Fi Limits At Public Places:
This is a clever hack to get around the time restriction. By simply clearing cookies on your browser and registering again, you can restrict the time limits at these places.
Chrome Users:
1. You can clear the browser cookies by opening the Settings tab of Chrome browser and heading to Privacy.
2. Click on ‘Clear Browsing Data’ in the privacy settings, open it and uncheck everything else except ‘Cookies and Site Data’.
iOS Users:
Go to Safari settings from the Settings app and you can find ‘Clear History and Website Data’ in there which will delete the browser cookies.
Public Wi-Fi Safety Precautions:
Public Wi-Fi networks are great, but they aren’t always safe. Sharing a network with other people means that your personal information is in danger of being seen or accessed. Protect yourself by taking the following precautions:
- Don’t enter sensitive information. Do your banking and online shopping at home to avoid exposing yourself to identity theft or credit card fraud.
- Use ‘https’ (secure) websites as much as possible. While most frequented websites such as Facebook and email providers will automatically convert the URL to a secure connection, keep an eye on the URL to make sure. Chrome users can also install an extension that will encrypt your data with major websites to make your browsing safer.
- Forget the network. Unless you specify otherwise, your computer or device will likely remember the Wi-Fi network and reconnect to it whenever you are in range. Doing this can leave your information exposed while you’re not browsing. Avoid this by unchecking ‘Connect Automatically’ in your network settings.
- Enable two-factor authentication on frequently visited sites. By adding an extra layer of protection (i.e. entering your phone number or selecting an accompanying icon) to any password protected website, you are effectively reducing the likelihood of a hack.
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