Filed under: iPhone
AT&T: free iPhone wifi is coming at some point
AT&T has been teasing us with free iPhone wifi. First it was on then it was off, and AT&T didn't seem to be saying anything. Well the New York Times finally got somebody to say something official and apparently the launch of the service was "human error" but AT&T "has long planned to offer free Wi-Fi to customers with iPhones and other phones that have Wi-Fi capability" as a "way of differentiating the AT&T network and giving customers another reason to choose us over a competitor."The upshot: free iPhone (and other smartphone) wifi is coming from AT&T, but they're not saying when. My guess is that they may roll it out to coincide with the launch of the 3G iPhone.
[via Gizmodo]
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ricky said 7:12PM on 5-11-2008
"way of differentiating the AT&T network and giving customers another reason to choose us over a competitor."
So they will have competitors now? Does this mean that the iPhone is going to be opened up sooner rather than later?
Reply
Mat Lu said 7:13PM on 5-11-2008
Alas, no; I think that refers to smartphones in general as the wifi deal won't apparently be limited to iPhones.
Ricky said 7:15PM on 5-11-2008
Yes. That would make more sense. One can always hope...
halhiker said 9:58PM on 5-11-2008
It makes perfect sense. By offering free wi-fi it is a value added benefit that is not being paid for anyway. I would imagine ATT knows how many iPhones get signed on to it's network and the number has got to be miniscule. By offering wi-fi it reduces the amount of users that are using the cellphone network. ATT will be servicing these customers one way or another and the may as well be doing over their wi-fi. With 3G coming and a potential explosion in iPhones sales this is an easy way for ATT to service their customers with spending untold billions on expanding the cell network.
It also gives the unlockers and incentive to get ATT as well.
Reply
jo said 10:44PM on 5-11-2008
The only reason why this is coming and going is that they had planned to release this the first time, then "Lord of Apple" Steve Jobs decided it would make a good selling point to mention at the WWDC '08 keynote.
Reply
Mike Smith said 12:07AM on 5-12-2008
Was anyone else really wanting a comma to be between iPhone and wifi in the title?
Reply
teiresias said 12:55AM on 5-12-2008
I was at my gym the other day and it is next to a Starbucks, when I got in the car and looked at my iPhone to check if I had any voicemail I noticed it had logged onto a WiFi network. Turns out it was the Starbucks AT&T network, so maybe the free hotspots are back on again already?
Reply
Ryan Trevisol said 7:40AM on 5-12-2008
I thought Starbucks was already AT&T, and AT&T Broadband customers already had access. . .
I haven't tried it at Starbucks yet, but I was at a Hilton this weekend and they had AT&T as one of their roaming partners, and I used my FastAccess DSL login to get free wifi there. I'm pretty sure the wifi transition has taken place, but the free iPhone access part seems to be delayed.
chrishota said 11:33AM on 5-12-2008
Confirmed working at three of the five Starbucks in Little Rock, AR, USA, as well as our Barnes & Noble.
Formerly, these were all T-Mobile hotspots. Now, when connecting with an iPhone, you get Internet with no[1] splash page: regular computers and other WiFi devices still have to authenticate or provide a credit card.
[1] Well, actually, you can see the URL for the splash page for a second, and then it immediately redirects you to the URL you requested. So, open up MobileSafari before opening MobileMail.
Reply