Does Sonic Drive-In Have Free WiFi? Everything You Need To Know

Sonic Drive-In is a fast food restaurant that has often ranked in the Top 20 most popular fast food restaurants in the United States. They offer many things, but do they have free WiFi?

Sonic Drive-In has free open WiFi that doesn’t require a password. However, most of them are outdoors. So, you will need to sit outside or in your vehicle while using it.

Sonic Drive-In has over 3,500 restaurants in the U.S. and gives free internet access outside. Keep reading to learn about the WiFi Sonic Drive-In has to offer. 

Does Sonic Drive-In Have Free WiFi?

Free public WiFi is a common amenity that fast food restaurants use to get you through the door and retain your business. If you work while there, you are likely to make a purchase.

Sonic Drive-In offers free public WiFi connections at all 3,500+ restaurants in the United States. Most restaurants only have outside seating available.

If you require a table and workspace, another fast food restaurant should be your destination. The outside seating at most Sonic Drive-Ins doesn’t make for the best work area.

Be Cautious Using Public WiFi

While free open public WiFi is tempting and convenient, it also allows anyone else to connect to the same network you are on with your device. 

There are simple devices that can be purchased online or made that can mimic public WiFi, like a VPN from VPN Proxymaster. You would never know you were connected to someone’s laptop, not a business.

Even though it is not recommended to use public WiFi, sometimes you have no choice. With some preparation, you can mitigate anyone snooping on your internet traffic.

The actions listed below will help you protect your privacy and data on private and public networks. VPNs, SSL, and good browsing habits will protect you 99% of the time.

However, they are not 100% foolproof. The only guaranteed way to prevent people from stealing your data on a free open public WiFi network is to not connect to one at all.

Use Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)

A Virtual Private Network, or VPN, is a worldwide network of computer servers that you connect through while connecting to other websites. They allow your internet traffic to be encrypted.

While using a VPN, anyone snooping on your internet traffic will only see that you are connected to a VPN, nothing else. The websites you visit will be private to anyone locally snooping.

A VPN works because you connect to the VPN server, and the VPN server connects you to the website you entered in the browser address bar. 

Anyone snooping on your traffic would only see the addresses of the encrypted traffic going to the VPN servers and not have access to your local information or private browsing data.

We have great instructions for how to connect to WiFi with VPN Proxymaster. While the article is for watching the TV show Friends, setting up the VPN will also protect you on free public WiFi.

Turn off any File Sharing on Networks

Another way to protect yourself is to turn off file sharing across the network. This sets your operating system to not allow file transfers across the network if unsafe.

Instructions for turning off file sharing in Windows 10 will be listed below. If you don’t use Windows 10, search for how to turn off file sharing over networks for your operating system.

Disable Allow Other Network Users to Connect Through Internet in Windows 10

1. Press Windows Key on your keyboard to bring up the Start Menu
2. Start typing “Control Panel” to search for your computer’s control panel – when the Start Menu comes up, if you start typing, it will automatically start searching your computer
3. Select Control Panel from the search options
4. Select Network and Sharing Center – if you don’t see Network and Sharing Center, your Control Panel is in category mode – “Select View Network Status” and then “Tasks” under Network and Internet
5. Select Change Advanced Sharing Settings on the left side menu
6. Select the Guest or Public section under network profiles
7. Check the radial button for Turn Off Network Discovery, and turn off file and printer sharing

Sharing files and being discoverable across your network should now be disabled in Windows 10.

The options listed above will protect you from most internet threats. The safest method of internet browsing is good browsing habits. Don’t go to websites you don’t trust.

Conclusion

Sonic Drive-In does have free open WiFi available at most, if not all, of their American restaurants. However, their restaurants don’t typically have indoor seating available. 

You should also avoid using personal information when using free open WiFi networks. Anyone could be listening. Try using a VPN or SSL connection, and turn off file sharing on your PC.