Starbucks rolling out free Wi-Fi for iPhones, slowly
May 5th, 2008 | by Tony Steidler-Dennison |(Via Macworld.)
iPhone users who need a speed boost over the EDGE connection find the phone’s Wi-Fi functionality quite handy. The only problem is locating a hotspot to use it on. However, Starbucks and AT&T struck a deal earlier this year that will see the coffee retailer’s Wi-Fi hotspots, currently served by T-Mobile, switched to the AT&T network. And that carries potential benefits for iPhone users.
Some iPhone users have reported that the newly launched AT&T hotspots are offering free Wi-Fi access to all iPhone users, as long as you have a valid iPhone phone number with the provider. Unfortunately, the situation is not quite as straightforward as one might hope.
I decided to take a little firsthand look, visiting four Starbucks in the Metro Boston area. I found only one offering free Wi-Fi for iPhones—the Davis Square, Somerville location nearest my home. I snapped a screenshot of the login screen (shown below), which accepted my iPhone’s phone number without question and logged me in with no trouble.
However, of the three subsequent Starbucks I visited, two were still using T-Mobile’s service to provide Wi-Fi access. The third, a Starbucks ensconced in a Barnes & Noble store in Boston’s Prudential Center, had an AT&T hotspot available, but was not offering free Wi-Fi to iPhones.
Full story here.
