Is wifi free without smartphone connect? Basically does it work like a laptop? I don't need the connect plan if i can just connect to my wifi for free ?

This would depend on what service contract you have and the capabilities of your phone. If the Cell Phone / Smartphone has Wii-Fi or Bluetooth and you are within 50 feet of a network you should be able to open the browser and connect to the Internet one way or another. You do need a data plan in most cases though. If you have a texting plan you can connect with that. Just like tethering a Cell Phone to a Laptop or notebook. This will use your data allocation pretty fast though.