Hell, I have WiFi issues at home.. I need a booster just to sit on my porch with the laptop to stream some music... But, if I go back inside like 5 feet, it works fine..
I've got 250mbps download too, but the wifi cuts it in half, compared to my desktop computer, even in the same room as the wifi is in..
So dunno.. I would never connect to 'free' wifi in the first place... Even checking email, you are passing your login info.. Might as well be online banking..
VPN connection.. Just more of a bottleneck, plus is not really any more secure. Just tells the website you are connecting to is you are connecting from a different server (host).
Good luck! Mitch