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AT&T's Free Wi-Fi Hotspot Access for iPhones Finally Announced? [No]

iPhoneAlley notes that AT&T has once again posted information on their website indicating that all iPhone customers have free access to their more than 17,000 Wi-Fi hotspots access across the U.S., including Starbucks locations:

AT&T knows Wi-Fi is hot, and free Wi-Fi even hotter, which is why we are proud to offer iPhone customers free access to the nation's largest Wi-Fi hotspot network with more than 17,000 hotspots, including Starbucks*. Now users can relax and access music, e-mail and web browsing services with their favorite blend in hand from the comfort of their favorite location.

AT&T provides an online tool to find a Wi-Fi spot near you.

We had first reported on this topic back in April when AT&T had turned the feature on at hotspot locations across the U.S. This was quickly disabled just a few days later. Another week after that, AT&T advertised the new feature on their iPhone website, and again quickly removed it. When the service was active, AT&T simply required you to enter your current iPhone phone number as authentication.

There was some speculation that the delay was due to the fact that they had not yet completed their Wi-Fi deployment at Starbucks. AT&T had won the Starbucks contract from T-Mobile in February and is already offering free Wi-Fi access for their DSL and business customers.

Update: AT&T says they made a mistake by posting that page and have made no announcements.

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47 months ago
Remember the brief Wi-Fi access for the iPhone at Barnes & Noble and other places that was taken down after a short time?

AT&T finally officially announced free Wi-Fi for iPhone users.

http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/internet/wifi.jsp

(scroll a little down the page)
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47 months ago
how does that work? can regular laptops use it too if its just wifi? or ipod touches? how does att make sure its iphones getting the wifi?
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47 months ago
might have to type your phone number in when you connect.
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47 months ago
Aloha dukebound85,

They may also be able to check your MAC address.

HawaiiMacAddict
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47 months ago

might have to type your phone number in when you connect.


Yeah, that was how it worked before.
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47 months ago
Now we're talking!
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47 months ago
WiFi is so much faster than Edge. I wonder if they will be rolling out WiFi even in airport locations?
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47 months ago
Aw man, I beat you by a hour, and you didn't use my thread!
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47 months ago
Apple should offer free access to any of their hot-spot deals to any international iPhone user, that would be a great deal for business men who travel a lot, wouldn't it? And I don't expect there would be that many of them that the providers would loose out a whole lot.

With just O2 and AT&T they could claim access to 14,500 WiFi hot spots across two continents, plus however many there are in the other countries!
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47 months ago

Aw man, I beat you by a hour, and you didn't use my thread!


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arn
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