Are there any chain restaurants that offer free Wi-Fi?
I am specifically looking for N. Dallas, Addison, Plano, Frisco... but the topic is valid for any town.
To make it easy, possibly you can start off your response with the city name.
Also, if you know any websites that help identify locations, that would be helpful.
Thanks a million!!!

I stopped at a McDonald's for a coke on ice during a long drive - and Mickey D's offered wifi. I parked the car and went in to work for a while...okay, to check email and Fodors.

Do you have Panera Bread there?

Lots of little coffee shops (1 store - no chains) in my area offer wifi.

Here's a website with various locations by town -
http://www.wififreespot.com/tex.html

Hooters. Who knew?

LOTS of other options though!

Portland, OR: almost everywhere has free WiFi. McMenamins pubs have it. Some pizza places have it. Tons of coffee shops have it. There's even a group called Personal Telco that helps people share their WiFi signals all over the city. Portland will supposedly have a city-wide Wireless network in about a year.

You can also use a cell phone to put your laptop on the internet. The cost of this and speed you can get varies by the provider and the type of plan you have. I used to have Verizon and their America's Choice plan. It allowed me to gain internet access at about dial-up speed for no extra cost besides using voice minutes i.e. unlimited evenings/weekends. I now have T-Mobile, which instead charges a flat $20/month for unlimited access (or $30/month for the "total internet package" that includes T-Mobile Hot Spot at Starbucks and Borders and many airports).

Whether you can use your cell phone to put your laptop on the net also depends on your phone: it must have a built-in cell modem. Most do nowadays but older phones may not. You can then use a special cable to plug your phone into the computer's USB Port or use bluetooth if your phone and computer both have it. This type of access is a bit slow, yes, not as fast as WiFi, but it does work in a pinch. I once booked a Priceline hotel in San Francisco while overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge from the Marin Co. side at sunset...sitting on the hood of my car, about 10 minutes before their cut-off deadline! Worked just fine using my cell phone and laptop.

Andrew

Las Vegas airport.

Starbucks has something called a T-Mobil hotspot, which is wi fi but I'm not sure how it works....

If you go to Starbucks and already have TMobile as your cell carrier and you pay for the option of wireless, you can access the internet.

If you go to Starbucks and you DON"T have TMobile you have to pay for it....

I love Starbucks coffee, and the convenience of knowing that they are everywhere when I travel - BUT - I have found that if there are any independent coffee shops near Starbucks, they usually have FREE wireless - so I visit them!

Downtown and CBD New Orleans. They're working on city-wide, but we'd take city-wide water. ;-)

Hermosa Beach, CA has citywide free wi-fi.

For a list of other municipalities that are offering free wi-fi, see:
http://tinyurl.com/ncmpl">http://tinyurl.com/ncmpl

There are a few in Texas.

You can also check www.jiwire.com for other wi-fi hotspots, pay and free.

Sorry about the double link. I just noticed that one of the cities that you asked about, Addison, TX, is one of the cities listed with citywide wi-fi. Plano seems to have started the process to become a wi-fi city.

I was in Wichita Falls (TX) Burger King over Labor Day weekend and saw a sign bragging about their Wi-Fi. Perhaps all BKs have it now?