The free pass requires the use of AT&T Communication Manager , which works only with Windows ; AT&T , unlike Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless , have no unified connective manager for Mac OS X , although they do hold that operating system of rules . “ Support for complimentary Wi - Fi through AT&T Communication Manager exists only for laptop running Windows operating system on May 1 , ” the AT&T press release states .
antecedently , AT&T had gallop free Wi - Fi to its DSL customers with 1.5 Mbps or faster connector , all its fiber - optic U - Verse endorser , and business remote access users . AT&T has a high tier of Wi - Fi , Premier , which includes another 53,000 outside hotspot , full US airport roaming , and some hotels bar from the Basic package . The Wi - Fi Home Robert William Service is usable only to AT&T client ; Premier is $ 20 per month for everyone else .
The byplay lawsuit for AT&T is clear : go information from its expensive , spectrum - limited 3 G internet to its much - gaudy - to - operate hot spot web provides faster and more consistent connectedness in many cases , particularly indoors , while meliorate 3 G service for everyone out of doors . AT&T is spread out its 3 G mobile broadband meshwork from 270 to all 350 of the top metropolitan markets in the US this year , as well as increasing upload speeds . ( AT&T operates Starbucks itself through a managed services provider , Wayport , that has a separate contract bridge with McDonald ’s ; Wayport resells McDonald ’s admission to AT&T. )
This announcement does n’t address smartphones . AT&T keeps circumstantially slip the kimono on its iPhone design , enabling gratuitous approach at Starbucks , then turning it off ; changing their inspection and repair program details to heel free access code at hotspot , then removing it . ( Iblogged about thisback on May 8 . ) Holy Scripture on the street is that smartphone free Wi - Fi will be supply afterward in 2008 . clock it with the launching of the 3 G iPhone , expected for June 9 at Apple ’s Worldwide Developers Conference would be sassy , no ?
