ShareMyWiFi.com: Broadband WiFi For Free

Think paying up to $60 for broadband access is price gouging? You're not alone. But now there's a way to get free WiFi access at home or on the road --- or at least get it literally for the price of chocolate chip cookies. ShareMyWifi.com lets people share their broadband access for free or a small fee. The premise of the site is simple: If you have broadband access and a WiFi network, you can share it with others, for free or a small fee. List your network on the site (it's free). Then when someone comes to the site to search for broadband access and they find you, they'll send you an email. You and the person can work out the details of sharing however you'd like.

If you're looking to get free access, head to the site, do a search, and see if someone nearby has access they're willing to share. Then send an email and you're in business.

Note that there are a few problems with the site. First is that there aren't a whole lot of people sharing their broadband. When I checked in, there were only three WiFi network listed in the entire state of Massachusetts. I get signals from four nearby WiFi networks just from the back porch of my house in Cambridge, so you know there are a whole lot more WiFi networks out there than ShareMyWiFi.com has listed.

Another issue is that sharing your network may violate your ISP's terms of service (TOS), and that could cost you your connection.

And, of course, if you share your network with others, you're possibly opening your home network to an invasive intruder.Still, this is an intriguing site, and it'll be interesting to see whether it ever reaches critical mass.