I want to use my wifi-enabled phone to get to the internet with a wifi signal?

Question

I want to make sure I understand this before I buy a phone and it can't do what I want.

I'm considering buying a phone from Ebay (or somewhere) to use with my wifi signal from my router, or any other router signal that may be avail... such as hotels or airports or whatever...

I want to be able to access the internet with that free wifi signal - I want to make sure the wifi included in these phones isn't just for, say, hot spots from that company - like a T-mobile hot spot.

anyone have experience with this?

Answer 1

Currently, when you buy a cell phone which has WiFi capabilities you must pay for the Internet connectivity through the company you buy the phone. If you get it from AT&T you must pay AT&T for WiFi access. You cannot use your own home network to connect up with the WiFi signal.

Perhaps one day we will be able to use our home network WiFi for our phones. Right now it is a double whammy in that you must pay your phone carrier and your ISP for cell WiFi and home WiFi.

Plus, when you buy a phone from another person usually you must use it with the carrier they bought it from. Too many phones are thrown out because they are not yet transferable from one carrier to another in the United States. Europe is far more advanced in this area because they can use a phone purchased with one carrier with a different carrier. Just as we can now transfer out phone number from service to service so too can they transfer their phone. We can't.

Answer 2

I have had 3 wi-fi phones in the past, one by HP and two made by HTC. They have all worked fine with any standard wi-fi network. I believe you should be able to access any wi-fi network using a compatibly phone, but if you are in a public place, such as a hotel etc you may need to pay for the access. If it was for example your own network at home you should be able to connect to it fine (from my experience) but the public hotspots will often require you to pay but this depends on the company offering the wi-fi.

If you know where you will be travelling to, you can search for wi-fi hotspots on this website www.jiwire.com and if the hotspot is listed on there it should say if you would have to pay or not.

This is just from my experience and to my knowledge I have never heard of phones only being locked to certain wi-fi networks (not to get confused with the mobile operator network, this is something different).

Some providers, I know T-Mobile for one, may give you free access to public hotspots if you are on a contract with them.