The road warrior's toolkit includes stumbling programs: Mark Frauenfelder, just back from four months on a tiny island, writes about how a real road warrior (in which category he places me) carries software and gadgets to help find Wi-Fi networks. It's true, I do.
I have many qualms about connecting to networks that aren't specifically advertising themselves as available. But since I engage in reasonable behavior, and no one I know is metered for small amounts of service, I confess: I connect to unprotected networks. And I like it.