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Airports that don't offer free wifi drive me insane. American airports are notorious for not offering free wifi and instead electing to use a service called Boingo where you either have to pay for a day pass to use wifi or pay a monthly fee to gain unlimited access to Boingo hotspots. In this day and age it's just insulting! Who's with me here?
On my latest trip to New York, unwilling to let Boingo win, I decided to poke around to see if there was a way around this.
I thought it was hopeless until I stumbled upon this very travel hack. You won't believe how incredibly simple it is. Without further ado, here are the steps to get your free wifi.
Update: It looks like Boingo may have closed the loop on this one as I've tested EWR and LGA this past year and they've redesigned (yet again) their login portal to prevent you from doing this. Sorry guys!
Desktop – How to get free Boingo wifi in 3 easy steps
Step 1: Go to your browser, get redirected to the Boingo page and click on “The Good Stuff” on the left side bar
Step 2: Click on “Shopping”
Step 3: Select ebay
At this point you'll be redirected to eBay but you'll notice you get full access to the internet. Boom! Done :)
Mobile – How to get free Boingo wifi in 4 easy steps
Step 1: Go to your browser, get redirected to the Boingo page and click on the button that has 3 horizontal lines on it on the top right
This activates the slide out menu.
Step 2: Tap on “The Good Stuff” in the menu
Step 3: Time to do a little shopping
Step 4: Tap on eBay
And just like the desktop method, you'll get redirected to eBay on your browser but after that, you'll get full access to the internet.
Yep it's as easy as that!
I didn't get a chance to try all the different combinations of shopping and other “Good Stuff” they offer but if you follow these exact steps you won't be one of those suckers that pay for wifi ;)
I've so far tested this at both LaGuardia (LGA) and Newark (EWR) with success but I would also love to know if this works at other airports that force you to use Boingo wifi. Chime in if you know or if you've tried this hack after reading this article. Chicago O'Hare works as well!
William is the Chief of Awesome at Going Awesome Places which is focused on off-the-beaten-path, outdoor adventure, and experiential travel. His true passion lies in telling stories, inspiring others to travel, writing detailed trip itineraries to help others plan their own trips, and providing helpful tips and tricks to guide readers to travel better. He is based in Toronto, Canada but you'll find him on the road more often than not. Make sure to learn more about William to find out his story and how Going Awesome Places started.
