WiFiZoneSmallWiFiFreeSpot.com is great site with listings of places with free wireless internet around the nation.  Here in Seattle, hanging out at coffee shops is popular and I’ve gotten hooked!  It’s just so much fun (and productive) to escape from the office or hang out late.  Just me, a laptop, iPod, and a if I’m lucky, a companion (my wife or a friend).

So to this end, I’ve thrown together a map on local.live.com of the free wireless spots in my area (Redmond, Bellevue, Shoreline, etc).  This by no means has all the locations listed in the Washington section, but it is a damn good start.

Free Wireless in the Seattle Area (local.live.com map)
http://local.live.com/?v=2&cid=B8988434B77BCDEA!291

My favorite places are:

  • Seattle: Bauhaus Books & Coffee (#20)
    301 E. Pine (Capitol Hill), 206-625-1600
  • Redmond: Jerzy's Coffee (#9)
    16727 Redmond Way, 425-702-8575
  • Shoreline: Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (#6)
    17551 15th Ave NE, 206-957-2000

Of course it’s always a good idea to call ahead to make sure the place is still around and free.  The map has a real mix of locations (bars, hotels, restaurants, etc), but I just use the coffee shops.  For the true “Seattle” experience, try Bauhaus (#20).  I still haven’t found a good place in Bellevue, any recommendations??  My ultimate hang would be at cafés in Paris (France, not Texas)... someday!

Update (on 7/12/06) - New Link
My wife found a considerably better website with lots more info, Caffinated and Unstrung.  It doesn’t have everything, but between these three resources, you should find just about everything out there.  This site is also integrated to a couple of maps, similar to mine.  It is also well catagoried by neighborhoods, other keywords, and has comments, hours, and more.

Update (on 2/16/07) - Tully's Has Free Wireless
I'm surprised I hadn't mentioned it earlier, but all Tully's Coffee shops have free wireless!  Tully's is the 2nd largest chain in Seattle and they're all over the Seattle metroplex.  It's easy to typically find a Tullys within a few miles of wherever you are around here.  I'm in a Tully's now and I spend most my time in Tully's these days.  They have considerably better coffe than Starbucks (yuck!) too.