Third time’s a charm: Free Wi-Fi at AT&T hotspots for all iPhone owners
It appears AT&T has finally made good on its promise to give iPhone owners free access to Wi-Fi service at its hotspots around the country. I say “appears,” because we’ve seen this before — at least twice — and both times the service was promptly yanked from existence.
About six months ago I was in a Starbucks with my iPhone. I was automatically connected to their AT&T Wi-Fi, and when I opened up my web browser it took me to an AT&T page asking for my iPhone phone number. I put it in and was granted free Wi-Fi access. A great deal, right? The next day I went back and it was gone.
A couple months later, a page on AT&T’s site trumpeted the arrival of free Wi-Fi for iPhone owners. This wasn’t just at Starbucks, but any of AT&T’s over 17,000 Wi-Fi hotspots. The only problem? The service wasn’t actually deployed yet, and the page was taken down.
Now, over three months after that, AT&T looks ready to go with the option. Several iPhone users have received text messages about the free Wi-Fi service, which directs them to this page, which reads:
AT&T knows Wi-Fi is hot, and FREE Wi-Fi is even hotter. Which is why FREE AT&T Wi-Fi access is now available for Apple iPhone at thousands of hotspots nationwide, including Starbucks*. Users can relax and access music, email and web browsing services with their favorite blend in hand from the comfort of their nearest location.
I have no idea what took AT&T so long to implement this service, since I was actually using it six months ago. Hopefully, this time, AT&T actually does know what’s hot: A promised service that actually works.
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About the Author, MG Siegler
MG Siegler writes about technology trends and new media for VentureBeat, with a focus on mobile topics, social elements and key news stories. Before that, MG wrote about technology on his blog, ParisLemon. Originally from Ohio, MG attended the University of Michigan where he studied film. He's previously lived in Los Angeles where he worked in Hollywood and in San Diego where he did web development. He now lives in San Francisco.