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Facebook's Latest Experiment: Helping You Find Free Wi-Fi Hotspots (macworld.com)

Posted by msmash on from the interesting-things dept.

Users of the social network's iOS app report seeing a new feature in the More section that lets them find nearby public Wi-Fi access points. From a MacWorld story: The feature does not appear to be widely available at the moment, which means this is probably something Facebook is only testing. The social network tests numerous features all the time but this one is particularly notable. Helping users find public Wi-Fi could enable more people to use Facebook Live. If your cellular connection isn't strong, a nearby Wi-Fi location can be a big help -- unless, of course, your Facebook Live broadcast is dependent on your specific location. There could be other uses for finding Wi-Fi beyond live video broadcasts. If you're desperate to upload a photo or recorded video, then locating the closest public Wi-Fi point helps. On top of that it's just one more reason to open the Facebook app, which Facebook obviously wants to encourage as much as possible. Check where the nearest Wi-Fi hotspot is, see that unread notifications indicator at the top of the screen, and before you know it you're engrossed in the news feed.

19 of 32 comments (clear)

  1. Automated Wardriving by SeaFox · · Score: 1

    I thought unsecured wireless networks were supposed to be a way of supporting terrorism, kiddie porn, or worse -- copyright infringement!

    Now Facebook is corporatizing wardriving? (yeah, I know they mean open municipal and business wi-fi, but it's not like they are going to be able to detect if it's a private residential access points that is open)

    1. Re:Automated Wardriving by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      You're right, its an obvious trap.

    2. Re:Automated Wardriving by s.petry · · Score: 1

      Hey, nothing nefarious ever happens in their Internet Utopia. It is _YOU_ that has the problem. You must believe harder!

      --

      -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

    3. Re:Automated Wardriving by unixisc · · Score: 1

      That's the point. It's not difficult to find hotspots anywhere - but the main issue is that usually, I don't know the password to the secure ones (unless at a place, the store owner lets me have the password), and the insecure ones, I wouldn't want to touch. So does Facebook now fish out the passwords of secure hotspots so that I can use them? It would be a concern either way

    4. Re:Automated Wardriving by mlts · · Score: 1

      I don't mind the insecure ones, or the ones that demand you click "accept" before using. My phone has a VPN that automatically fires up, so the worst that the Wi-Fi operator can do is block or slow down the connection.

  2. Re:I don't think they want people to use their app by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    and by work you mean 8th grade history class.

  3. Nice try, NSA! by ctrl-alt-canc · · Score: 1

    But I expected you to come up with something more original...

  4. What if you're offline? by Eloking · · Score: 2

    If your cellular connection isn't strong, a nearby Wi-Fi location can be a big help

    What if you don't have a cellular connection?

    I can already easily use Google Map with limited connectivity to find restaurant with free Wi-Fi. What I don't have is an helper to help me find free Wi-Fi hotspot when I'm driving in the USA and I "don't" have cellular connection.

    Oh yeah, and on the sideline and while I'm talking about the USA, why there's no free Wi-Fi in your airport yet?

    --
    Elok
    1. Re:What if you're offline? by TWX · · Score: 1

      It's not communism if it's used as an incentive to get you in the door to use their paid services.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    2. Re:What if you're offline? by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      Download the openstreetmaps data for offline use and store it on your phone. Look up the nearest fast food joint. They probably all have WiFi at this point.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    3. Re:What if you're offline? by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      It's not communism if it's used as an incentive to get you in the door to use their paid services.

      By the time you're able to use "free wifi at the airport" you've pretty much already paid for the services the airport has to offer. Your ticket has the airport fee included. You'll pay for parking on the way out. You'll pay the site fee for any rental cars.

      If you're referring to the "paid services" like overpriced food and convenience stores, well, when you're busy surfing the web you're not in the stores spending money. If you're doing it while in a store, you're likely using the free wifi to compare prices and you're going to order that fancy gizmo from an online, better priced, store.

      "Free wifi" is a perfect example of something that is not free at all, but paid for by the airport authority through either higher airport fees or local taxes. Why should an airport authority spend money on something that has no benefit to them or the onsite vendors, and is not going to be a factor in anyone's decision on which airport to come "visit"? In most places, the airport is a defacto monopoly, so nobody picks their departure or arrival airport based on "free wifi", and the number of people who chose their itinerary stop-overs based on that would be vanishingly small.

      I assume the GP is asking from a European prospective, and to that I'd say that on a continent so small that it makes sense to pick airports based on services and not how close they are that "free wifi" might be important in selling the airport as a whole. If you can drive to your destination in about the same amount of time it takes to fly, or can take the train, airports need something to draw the customers. In the US, ain't so much.

      And I don't remember too many of the European airports I've been at having free wifi. The business lounges, yes.

    4. Re:What if you're offline? by mlts · · Score: 1

      "Free Wi-Fi" is like a place offering "Free beer". TANSTAAFL. That "free" Wi-Fi is a reason I'm paying $12 for three tacos and a drink at a place near my work for lunch, or why a local RV campground costs $50/night when it was less than half that a few years ago.

    5. Re:What if you're offline? by vux984 · · Score: 1

      If your cellular connection isn't strong, a nearby Wi-Fi location can be a big help

      Meh. I was travelling in Melbourne a while ago without a data roaming package, so i was relying on 'wifi' and it was a PITA.

      A bunch of the free wifi spots I connected to weren't even routed to the internet; just an intranet advertising site for various stores around me.

      A bunch more had various 'registration' processes to deal with; that needed to fill out forms and enter phone numbers etc to receive codes... and promos etc. Or i needed codes from inside the store... this last wasn't too bad but in theory, but in practice was more hassle than i wanted. I didn't want to be 'that guy' that goes in, gets in line, and then just asks for the wifi password...

      A bunch more got me onto the basic web, but I guess various services and ports were blocked and, for example, I couldn't get a chat message out via skype etc.

      A bunch more I was able to connect to but signal strength was too poor to do anything remotely useful, or they'd show up in my list but i wasn't able to connect at all.

      A couple were usable. But it was an exercise in frustration. I guess once you know the lay of the land a bit better and know which companies run useful spots maybe.

      I was right downtown and the number to sort through was overwhelming. A database of free wifi isn't a bad thing, but a database of useful free wifi sorted by how useless it is would be better -- but I'm not going to use a service from facebook anyway so ... meh.

    6. Re:What if you're offline? by Eloking · · Score: 1

      Download the openstreetmaps data for offline use and store it on your phone. Look up the nearest fast food joint. They probably all have WiFi at this point.

      Isn't similar to Google Navigation Offline maps? Doesn't work too well as the search doesn't work 50% of the time and the GPS is less efficient without the cellular data.

      --
      Elok
    7. Re:What if you're offline? by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      That "free" Wi-Fi is a reason I'm paying $12 for three tacos and a drink at a place near my work for lunch,

      The point I was making is that you may choose to eat at that taco place instead of a cheaper place across the street because it "gives" you "free wifi", but nobody decides to go to airport XYZ instead of the airport across the street because XYZ has "free wifi" and the other one doesn't. That is why the "paid services" at the airport aren't getting a boost from the airport authority providing that "free wifi".

  5. Keep It Up, Facebook. by sycodon · · Score: 2

    Eventually Facebook will collapse under all its bells and whistles same as AOL.

    Trying to be everything to everyone is never a good plan.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    1. Re:Keep It Up, Facebook. by TWX · · Score: 2

      Eventually Facebook will collapse under all its bells and whistles same as AOL.

      Trying to be everything to everyone is never a good plan.

      Unfortunately AOL is still not dead, more than thirty years after it debuted and a decade or more after dialup itself was ostensibly dead.

      I have noscript on my browser and I see a lot of pages with embedded script from Facebook. I suspect that even if they collapse under their own mass, they're still going to be an Internet Force of Nature for some time.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    2. Re:Keep It Up, Facebook. by elbiatcho1 · · Score: 1

      Limited data plans, or maybe their cell coverage is spotty.

  6. WiFi Sense? by The-Ixian · · Score: 1

    Kinda sounds like Microsoft's WiFi Sense in Windows 10 devices.

    --
    My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.