Mobile Blogging
Dec | March 31, 2006In the Ireland of 2006 I can’t be the first person to ask this question and I hope someone out there has an answer and a definitive list. Where do you go when you are in Dublin city center and want cheap (free?) Wi-Fi access? The internet is full of lists, all of which seem to be out of date.
Now I’m not talking about standing outside Apt 123 on 456 Capel Street and sponging off their unsecured Wi-Fi, nor am I on for paying €5 euros for 30 minutes access in a pub with a Wi-Fi logo on the door and a barman who thinks Wi-Fi is some new D4 slang for wine from Fiji. No, instead I’m talking about civilized wireless internet access from the developed world. The type you get in other countries that have embraced the new millennium. I’d like to go into a coffee shop, order a cup of coffee, preferably from an espresso machine, and get say 20 minutes free Wi-Fi. All I’m planning on doing is uploading a blog entry or two, maybe read a couple of RSS feeds, nothing complex as I am using a Wi-Fi enabled PDA.
Or am I deluded and doomed to remain disconnected in the Rip-off Republic?
Update 26 April 2006: I found a cafe chain, Cafe Java have a sign up in one of their shops saying they have free Wi-Fi in all their restraunts. The shop was closed when I got there and the wi-fi was open, but too weak for my PDA to connect to.
Oh, what a good post. Hear here. This is just the sort of issue people will turn to this blog for. So far the only places I know are in dublin airport and they cost.
Please, please respond people… We need an up to date list of where you can get free wi-fi all over the city. Or else we are not going to visit.
I tried a couple of places in town on Saturday. Some old lists mentioned McDonalds. I tried one on Grafton street and one in Dundrum and couldn’t pick up an unsecured wi-fi. I suppose I could have bought something and asked if they did wi-fi, but I wasnt hungry enough to eat McDonalds.
Next I tried the Eircom phone box at the end of Grafton Street. Again no luck. A few secured or unsercured but pay for use wifi networks. Basically it looks like there is feck all free wifi in Dublin, but then again there is feck all of anything free in Dublin.
Hey guys, after much searching I have found a couple of places in town that have free wifi for customers. 4 Dame Lane is just around the corner from Temple Bar and is a quiet place (but gets busy late night) to have a beer and surf. There is also a free 3D tourist map that you can pick up at some pubs that has wifi places marked on it. I haven’t been to the other ones yet but it could be worth a look.
Good luck!
The McDonald’s on O’Connel just at O’Connel bridge offers free wifi-you need to get a card from the counter that has 20 min interval logins.
I’ve gone up to the counter and asked for them, and not had to buy anything.
Along the same lines-The Bailey on Duke Street-just off Grafton has 20 minute interval cards-they ask that you buy something.
I had a pint and was handed 5 cards when I asked for one.