Travel Essentials: Wi-Fi finder apps for iPhone

Get online cheaply and efficiently while you're travelling.

Free Wi-Fi app for iPhone
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Wi-Fi Finder

This app has a list of more than 320,000 Wi-Fi hot spots in 140 countries. It uses your phone's GPS to track nearby hot spots and comes with nice touches: you can filter the results to show free or pay connections; you can search by the venue, such as a cafe or hotel, or the provider, as well as see the results on a map; and you can save the results to view when you don't have access to the internet.

Available from the iPhone app store for free.

Speedtest.net

This simple app allows you to test the speed of your internet connection. Launch the app, then touch the big "begin test" button. The app downloads and uploads some files to measure the speed of your connection. A few seconds later it brings up the results, which are saved for comparison. This app is a good way to confirm whether your connection feels slow or actually is slow.

Available from the iPhone app store for free.

Onavo

Onavo is a great way to cut down on data usage while travelling. When on a 3G connection, it pushes data through its own servers and applies some shrewd compression techniques, making files as small as possible and therefore reducing data usage by up to 50 per cent (depending on the settings). The app does push data through the company's servers, so don't use it if privacy is paramount.

Available from the iPhone app store for free.