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AT&T Providing Free Wi-Fi Access to iPhone Users [Updated]

Wednesday April 30, 2008 4:02 pm PDT by Arnold Kim
A couple of readers have reported that AT&T hotspots are now offering free Wi-Fi access to iPhone users. Barnes and Noble, Starbucks and presumably AT&T's 71,000 other Wi-fi hotspot locations are now offering iPhone users a custom portal to access free Wi-Fi. A special iPhone formatted page asks for your mobile phone number. Once entered, you can access the Wi-Fi access for free.

MacRumors has been able to confirm this finding at a local Barnes and Noble. Blurry photo provided:


AT&T recently partnered with Starbucks (displacing T-Mobile) to provide Wi-Fi access to Starbucks' 7000 stores nationwide. This partnership allowed existing AT&T broadband customers free access and AT&T promised that it would "soon extend the benefits of Wi-Fi at Starbucks to its wireless customers", but no official announcement has yet been made.

A list of AT&T's 71,000 hotspots can be found on AT&T's site, including Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, Airports, and McDonald's locations.

Update: MacRumors reader ntrigue confirms that AT&T's system is based on the iPhone's User Agent, which can easily be faked on laptops. He successfully accessed the free iPhone Wifi through his laptop (and a valid iPhone phone number)"
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Grimace
49 months ago
Awesome, finally a benefit from having AT&T&T&T!!
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pkoch1
49 months ago
Where was this found? What state(s)?
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nineteentwelve
49 months ago
It seems that iPhone users get the best deal when going to Starbucks then. What with access to the custom iTunes Store, and now this. Nice deal if you ask me.
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cheekybobcat
49 months ago
Definitely a plus for iPhone owners. I don't think this will be a plan-switcher for most :/

Can't wait to get mine though!
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Foxglove9
49 months ago
I thought if you owned an iPhone you automatically had wifi access as part of your AT&T service?
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arn
49 months ago

Where was this found? What state(s)?


Barnes & Noble in Virginia here. one of the user reports said NY.

arn
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superfula
49 months ago

I thought if you owned an iPhone you automatically had wifi access as part of your AT&T service?


Nope. At least not up until now.
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hypermark
49 months ago
A side bit of goodness is that I am an AT&T DSL customer who happens to also own an iPod touch (not iPhone). In any event, I went by Starbucks today discovered the AT&T Wi-Fi connection in my settings, chose that, input my AT&T email address and password, and woila, FREE Wi-Fi on my iPod touch. Very cool.

Mark
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Sky Blue
49 months ago

I thought if you owned an iPhone you automatically had wifi access as part of your AT&T service?


I believe you normally have to pay for access at some stores.
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nineteentwelve
49 months ago
Is this going to let iPhone users from across the world use AT&T Wi-Fi for free? For instance, if I was to visit New York and go to Starbucks, could my O2 iPhone log on for free. I doubt it myself, but I was just wondering how it is going to differentiate between the two. Or will just be based on the iPhone's browser user agent?

EDIT: I've just realised you need to log in with an AT&T username and password. Duh.
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