Since this blog is no longer being updated, this page is now only here for historical purposes and should not be relied upon as a current guide.
As a general rule, this blog would only list and review "free and open" locations-that is, hotspots which allowed customers to connect without having to obtain authentiication credentials in advance, regardless of whether or not a fee or purchase was required in return for those credentials. Whether all of the locations listed below still fall into that category is, of course, unknown.
To be sure you're on the right side of the law and just as a common courtesy, you should obtain authorization from whoever runs any Wi-Fi network that does require authentication in advance.
October 3, 2014
Restaurants:
All local Panera Bread restaurants offer free Wi-Fi, but some of them are reported to turn it off during lunch hours.
Burger King restaurants in Raytown, on Blue Parkway in Kansas City and on Noland Road in Independence are lit up, as confirmed by reviews posted here. It's likely that other local Burger Kings are as well, given that the chain's locations across the country proliferate in Wi-Fi directory listings, but we haven't checked them all.
Any McDonald's restaurant which offered play-for-pay access through Wayport or AT&T before January 2010 will now be free and open, and as far as we know the two Johnson County locations previously reviewed here that were unwired by their operators still are.
Mr. Goodcents in midtown KCMO was lit up when we visited in 2007, as was the Dairy Queen in downtown Lee's Summit. Mr. Goodcents' location in the Northland on Barry Road across from Metro North Mall appeared to have an open Wi-Fi router broadcasting its name during a February 2012 survey.
Subway restaurants at 63rd and Troost and at Linwood and Main were found to have Wi-Fi when they were visited in February 2012.
Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants are still listed as unwired; we haven't been to one since verifying this at their Lee's Summit location.
Schlotzsky's Deli lists a couple of local Wi-Fi locations; we've been to the one on Metcalf in Overland Park.
The Yard House Restaurant at the Legends in KCK was confirmed to be unwired during our one stop there in 2006.
Coffeehouses:
All Starbucks Coffee shops that offer Wi-Fi are now free and open. A review of the location at 41st and Main in Kansas City has been posted.
All Latté Land, Dunn Brothers Coffee, and Scooters Coffeehouse locations are unwired (or at least were the last time either of us stopped by).
Westport Coffee House, Tea Drops in Westport, Javanaut on 39th (back when it was the Crave Cafe), Homer's Coffee House in Overland Park, Mildred's in the Crossroads district, Benetti's Coffee Experience and City Grounds in Raytown, Muddy's over by UMKC, the Roasterie Cafe in Brookside, One More Cup in Waldo and Drink a Latte just west of KU Medical Center all had free and open Wi-Fi the last we checked.
Open air hotspots:
To the best of our knowledge, none of the various free and open outdoor Wi-Fi networks that have been reviewed on this blog were still in operation as of April 2012.
Public buildings:
Union Station and the Crown Center atrium were among Kansas City's first large open hotspots. Given the station's financial problems, perhaps someone should check to see if it's still unwired. Crown Center, however, remains a favorite gathering place for laptoppers.
All three terminals at Kansas City International Airport are still lit up courtesy of the city, which had taken over Sprint's former play-for-pay network, the last we heard.
Bookstores:
If there are any locally owned and operated bookstores with free Wi-Fi as there are in many other large cities according to directories, we aren't aware of them. However, among the two remaining big national chains with locations in the metro, Barnes and Noble offers free and open access.
Other retail locations:
The Apple Stores on the Country Club Plaza and at 119th and Roe in Leawood are the only ones we're aware of at present, although it should be pointed out that it would appear their wireless networks really aren't intended for customer use except for product demonstration or support purposes.
Public libraries:
All public library systems in the immediate metropolitan area now offer Wi-Fi for patron-owned devices at all of their locations. However, only the Kansas City, Kansas, Johnson County, Olathe and Mid-Continent public libraries currently allow open access to all visitors. The rest-regardless of information on their websites to the contrary-either restrict usage to cardholders or require users to obtain authentication credentials in advance. In keeping with our criteria above, we suggest that anyone needing Wi-Fi access at one of the libraries with such restrictions should contact the library administration for details on their policies.
Outlying public libraries in Bonner Springs, Basehor and Tonganoxie in Kansas are unwired and allow open access.
Although it's really not a "public" library, the library at Kansas City Kansas Community College offered free and open Wi-Fi to all visitors when it was reviewed very early in this blog's history. To the best of our knowledge (and our reading of its policy) it still does-and as far as we know it is the only such facility at a local post-secondary educational institution that doesn't restrict Wi-Fi access to students, faculty, or staff.
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