News
AT&T providing free Wi-Fi to iPhone users
By Charles Starrett
Senior Editor, iLounge
Published: Wednesday, April 30, 2008
News Category: iPhone
AT&T has begun offering free Wi-Fi to iPhone-using customers at some of its Wi-Fi hotspot locations, according to several reports. When a participating AT&T Wi-Fi network is accessed by an iPhone user, a specially-formatted page appears offering “Free AT&T Wi-Fi for iPhone.” iPhone users must enter their mobile phone number to gain access, likely indicating that users must also be AT&T customers in order to log on. In its recent announcement of the Wi-Fi partnership with Starbucks, AT&T said it would “soon extend the benefits of Wi-Fi at Starbucks to its wireless customers,” but has yet to make any further announcement concerning Wi-Fi access for iPhone users. It is currently unclear whether this service is being offered at all AT&T hotspots, or just specific locations. A full list of AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots can be found on the company’s site.
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1
I assume that it somehow recognizes when Wi-Fi is being accessed by an iPhone to bring up the special login page. By changing the user agent string of the browser on a laptop, would it be possible to get free Wi-Fi on your laptop, assuming you had a valid iPhone phone number?
Posted by Muero on April 30, 2008 at 9:08 PM (PDT)
2
I found this yesterday at the Starbucks I frequent. It was easy and freaking awesome with the high-speed wi-fi.
Posted by Ignacio on April 30, 2008 at 9:14 PM (PDT)
3
At&t wi-fi should have been standard from the start of the iPhone in the US.
Posted by phil on April 30, 2008 at 9:41 PM (PDT)
4
Don’t AT&T DSL customers also get free Wi-Fi at any AT&T hotspot? That should work on a laptop.
Posted by Galley in Greenville, SC on May 1, 2008 at 5:09 AM (PDT)
5
I guess that was one good thing about the O2 package in the UK - it featured free wi-fi using The Cloud network from the start.
I am still using The Cloud on my iPod touch - it uses the MAC address of the touch to ‘log in’ to their network. There have been one or two issues but they seem to be resolved now.
Posted by Bob Levens in UK on May 1, 2008 at 5:42 AM (PDT)
6
Great news, anyone know if this is an immediate system wide offering, or is it going to be a slow roll out?
Posted by TosaDeac on May 1, 2008 at 1:26 PM (PDT)
7
I was in a Barnes & Nobles (with Starbucks) which had the AT&T Wi-Fi signs here in Sacramento, CA. It had the iPhone portal page, and accepted my AT&T mobile number. Note: I didn’t activate my iPhone through iTunes, so I’m guessing it only checks if you’re an AT&T customer, period.
Posted by ObliteRon on May 2, 2008 at 4:59 PM (PDT)
8
Sure would be nice if they extended this to iPod Touch owners…
Posted by Tasha on May 3, 2008 at 11:26 PM (PDT)
9
@Tasha, now why would AT&T extend this to Touch owners? They receive no money from Touch owners.
Whereas official U.S. iPhone users have both voice and data plans through AT&T. Plus, it has the added benefit for AT&T of off-loading some data traffic from their EDGE (soon to be 3G?) network from users that otherwise would be using the data network. So sort of a win-win for AT&T if they do this (goodwill from iPhone customers and an incentive to potential new customers as well as reducing load on their data network).
@ObliteRon, for the last couple weeks I’ve been testing my local B&N (w/ Starbucks) and while they have AT&T Wi-Fi, there is no iPhone portal page. So I guess it’s not all locations. Also, latest rumors are that even hotspots that once worked have now been disabled.
Posted by Dyvim on May 5, 2008 at 8:10 AM (PDT)