Cybersecurity For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 21

Ten Ways to Safely Use Public Wi-Fi

IN THIS CHAPTER

Using cellular connections instead of public Wi-Fi

Using public Wi-Fi appropriately

Protecting yourself when using public Wi-Fi

Until relatively recently, there were many occasions during which someone might reasonably want to use public Wi-Fi for connecting to the Internet.

Until the arrival of 4G (the fourth generation of cellular networks), for example, the speed of Wi-Fi connections typically dwarfed the speed of cellular connections. Likewise in many locations, cellular connections were not available, and even if they were, they were only available from phones and cellular-enabled tablets, not from laptops. Furthermore, cellular data plans were typically expensive, especially for travelers leaving the service areas of their providers, so even if you could share your cellphone connection with your laptop, there were financial reasons not to do so.

Today, however, the situation has changed. 4G is ubiquitous, and even faster 5G is available in many areas, making cellular connections fast enough for nearly all types of online activities conducted by the typical adult for work or pleasure. (Certain types of gaming may ...