Spectrum opens Wi-Fi hotspots across Los Angeles to help wildfire survivors

After days of brutal forest fires that have burned tens of thousands of acres of land in Los Angeles and reduced thousands of homes to rubble, Internet service provider Spectrum is making a number of its Wi-Fi hotspots available to everyone. They don’t require any sign-up or account creation – just search for the Wi-Fi name on your device and click in.

Spectrum, a regional ISP owned by Charter Communications, has released over 35,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in the greater Los Angeles area for public use. Anyone can go to the nearest hotspot Spectrum’s website and then connect to the Wi-Fi network called Spectrum Free Trial to get online, as KTLA tech reporter Rich DeMuro noted in one post on X (formerly Twitter).

Spectrum customers who have had devices damaged or destroyed the forest fires No compensation will be charged, the company wrote a blog post. Anyone who has electricity but no internet connection will receive credits until they are online again, which will be offset against savings on their next bill.

Read more: Los Angeles Fires: Donations, Relief Efforts and How to Help Fire Victims

Other ISPs and carriers have stepped up to provide additional services during the wildfires. T-Mobile and the Starlink microsatellite network have temporarily activated their partner service to allow customers to connect to the Starlink telephone satellite constellation (which the companies offer). previously turned on to support relief efforts for Hurricane Helene in the southeastern United States, last October). While still in testing mode, this network of microsatellites will allow users to send SMS text messages and receive emergency notifications when they are outside T-Mobile’s network.

Verizon has waives all call, text and data usage fees for prepaid and postpaid customers in the affected districts Forest fires until January 18, while also donated a total of $1 million to the American Red Cross and the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation. AT&T is Waiver of overage fees for unlimited talk, text and data for customers in Southern California through February 15, a $100,000 donation to the American Red Cross and matching employee donations to several charities. The wireless carrier also set up a handful of device charging stations for the public and provided assistance to first responders.