Wifi
Consumer and social
wifi hotspot map
SHOW HN2016
153points
72comments
#212of 2,264 in 2016
Top 10%of 2016 by points
How HN took it
CuriousMostly questions and neutral comments
5 positive, 29 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 20 critical, out of 55 comments about the project. Thread score -0.30.
Execution: 0 for, 12 againstIdea: 2 for, 5 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 2 againstPerformance: 2 for, 0 againstPricing: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Good visual density view of WiFi coverage
From 1 comment
Looks really great - love the web view of WiFi density, and great to see more efforts in this space. We've built something similar at OpenSignal. Our WifiMapper [1] app on iOS…
sinak on HN
Well executed implementation
From 1 comment
Wrong question. I don't care where I can find free WiFi. Nowadays, every damn coffee shop, hotel or mall has free Wifi—I care about fast and free WiFi with speedy up- & downloads…
glossyscr on HN
Objections
Many listed hotspots are not free, only open
From 3 comments
This is not mapping free WiFi hotspots. This is mapping open Wifi hotspots. They are not the same. For example, KPN in the Netherlands is not free, and xfinity wifi in the USA is…
jjawssd on HNIf an WiFi hotspot doesn't have a password doesn't mean it's free.
notdang on HNNot all of these Wifi APs are "Free" and its partial in a lot of spots. Still, good effort.
thrillgore on HN
Data includes printers, VMs and unsecured home routers
From 3 comments
Hmmm I get the feeling that one of your 'sources' for the db comes from the users who have already installed your app. Just a tin-foil-hat hunch based on the density of nodes in…
unholygoat on HNBad data set. You are missing most of the free wifi spots in my town, but do show a number of people who just haven't secured their routers.
codingdave on HNpretty sure the latter. I've seen printers, chromecasts, ...
detaro on HN
Map fails to render or zoom properly in some browsers
From 3 comments
I am redirected to https://meshable.io/map which is a blank page. I even disabled uBlock and refreshed the page and still saw nothing. All I can see if a hand for a cursor, and…
GigabyteCoin on HNThis isn't working for me, after I zoom in past a certain level, all the blue dots just disappear. Clicking a city name search result zooms in so far that the map goes blank…
kalleboo on HNIs your browser compatible? http://caniuse.com/#search=gl
geografa on HN
Many known free hotspots are missing
From 3 comments
A point of constructive criticism is that there are some inconsistencies in how large-scale public WiFi seems to be handled. For instance, in Ann Arbor, MI every University of…
vinay427 on HNI've had two open ones for years that didn't make the map :(.
kristopolous on HNBad data set. You are missing most of the free wifi spots in my town, but do show a number of people who just haven't secured their routers.
codingdave on HN
Location accuracy problems with geocoding and search
From 2 comments
Searching by zip code zooms the map into areas 20-40 miles outside of the actual area code. At least that was my experience with the 2 that I tried.
RKearney on HNI've seen some I added myself with Instabridge (another WiFi sharing app), the location of some of the networks are wrong because the app messed up sometimes (my school network…
basvdwollenberg on HN
Requests
Add tagging or a feedback form to mark free, paid or low quality hotspots
From 3 comments
I suggest you allowing tagging of each hotspot and assigning some sort of label to each hotspot. Thanks! Some crucial filters: 1. Free vs Non-Free 2. Free time limit Some…
jjawssd on HNDon't remove them, just tag them and adjust tags based on votes. Also, always consider the threat of abuse.
jjawssd on HNYou are right. I already removed the xfinity hotspots. We'll be adding a feedback form into our web + mobile app so non-free or low quality APs can be removed.
rgawdzik on HN
Show verified status and time-to-live for hotspots
From 1 comment
Also consider setting a time-to-live for each hotspot. They come and go. Also mark 'expired' and 'verified' hotspots as such. Most will be unverified, of course.
jjawssd on HN
Show hotspot speeds
From 1 comment
Yup, 100% agree. We actually know the speeds of a minority of these APs. We'll be bumping them up in the searches + advertising their speeds soon.
rgawdzik on HN
Show coverage areas instead of single points
From 1 comment
I'd probably go for some sort of area marking with a rough estimation of AP range, allowing wide area networks made up of many APs to show as one chunk of coverage.
jon-wood on HN
Questions
What is the data source?
From 2 comments
What is the source of this data? As I see my tier 3 city also has few free wifi listed here.
techaddict009 on HNLike what?
chinathrow on HN
Is it safe to use these hotspots?
From 1 comment
Id also want to know which hotspots I can actually use safely.
hkmurakami on HN
Alternatives named
WiGLE
From 1 comment
239,989,522 wifi networks: https://wigle.net
bobzilla42 on HN
WifiMapper by OpenSignal
From 1 comment
Looks really great - love the web view of WiFi density, and great to see more efforts in this space. We've built something similar at OpenSignal. Our WifiMapper [1] app on iOS…
sinak on HN
Wiffinity
From 1 comment
Nice work! This reminds me to something I tried a while ago: https://wiffinity.com They basically provide the same thing but as a crowdsourced list of truly free hotspots and you…
4lejandrito on HN
Mozilla Location Service
From 1 comment
https://location.services.mozilla.com/
titusnicolae on HN