Entertainment

'Office Christmas Party' Invents A WiFi Miracle

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there isn't much in the raucous holiday-themed comedy Office Christmas Party that should be attempted in real life. T.J. Miller, Jason Bateman, Olivia Munn, Jennifer Aniston, and a keg's worth of other hilarious actors star in this story of a work get-together that gets completely out of hand. Office Christmas Party opens on Dec. 9 and makes a nice alternative to your employer's party. (Who wants to see David from HR ruin any future enjoyment of the song "Uptown Funk" with his overly exuberant karaoke rendition? Not you.) But if the real world should be borrowing anything from Office Christmas Party, it's Anywair, the tech program championed by Munn's character Tracey. The program enables the user to get on WiFi anywhere, by pulling power from light bulbs and household devices. That sounds like heaven, but could Anywair from Office Christmas Party be real?

WiFi is love and WiFi is life, so I am sorry to report that a product exactly like Anywair isn't readily available at this time. But the market knows that the people want to be connected, so there are apps and devices that you can purchase to access WiFi in difficult places. Here are a few solutions while you wait for some tech genius to invent Anywair.

Get A Portable Hotspot

If you have a job that requires you to link up and get to work at a moment's notice, you may want to invest in a portable hot spot. AT&T's Unite Explore ($49.99) is touted as the network's "first rugged mobile hotspot," so you klutzes can be confident you're not investing in something that will shatter if you drop it. Log onto a secure network anywhere and stay logged on for an estimated 22 hours of battery life. Not an AT&T customer? Check with your mobile provider to see what options are available.

Join Instabridge

Instabridge is an ingenious app available for iPhone and Android. Think of it as a club for sharing free WiFi information. Is the barista too busy to give you the coffee shop WiFi password? Someone's probably already saved it to the Instabridge library. You can even put your home network on there so when visitors ask, you don't have to find that business card with a long string of letters and numbers that probably got swept under your refrigerator.

Find One Of Your Cable Company's Hotspots

XFinity and Time Warner Cable are among the cable companies that are making hotspots available to their existing customers. If you sign in with the information you use to pay your bill, you can tap into one of the provider's existing hotspots without incurring any additional charge. You're already giving them your money anyway. Check your cable company's site to see where you can find them and how you get onto their service while you're on the go.

Technological advancements may mean that something Anywair-like will be out in the future, but for now, these WiFi tricks can help you get and stay on the grid.

Images: Paramount Pictures; Giphy (3)