iPhone user who call for a speed boost over the EDGE joining notice the telephone set ’s Wi - Fi functionality quite ready to hand . The only job is locate a hotspot to use it on . However , Starbucks and AT&T strike a deal before this year that will see the coffee tree retail merchant ’s Wi - Fi hot spot , presently served by T - Mobile , interchange to the AT&T internet . And that carries potential benefit for iPhone user .
Some iPhone user have report that the newly launched AT&T hotspots are offer free Wi - Fi accession to all iPhone exploiter , as long as you have a valid iPhone headphone number with the provider . regrettably , the situation is not quite as straightforward as one might hope .
I decide to take a small firsthand look , chit-chat four Starbucks in the Metro Boston area . I found only one offering devoid Wi - Fi for iPhones — the Davis Square , Somerville location nearest my home . I snapped a screenshot of the login sieve ( shown below ) , which accepted my iPhone ’s phone telephone 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 avail to provide Wi - Fi access . The third , a Starbucks settle in a Barnes & imposing store in Boston ’s Prudential Center , had an AT&T hotspot available , but was not offering free Wi - Fi to iPhones .
Interestingly , of the two Starbucks still providing T - Mobile hotspots , both also had Wi - Fi networks name “ attwifi ” which presently pointed to T - Mobile ’s hotspot logon servers . That seems in keeping with AT&T ’s put forward intention of rolling out the service starting this outflow . According to the fellowship ’s initialjoint press releasewith Starbucks , it plan to switch the coffee chain ’s hotspots over on a marketplace - by - market foundation , finish up up by the end of the class .
An AT&T spokesperson I talk to by phone would not annotate on the subject and Starbucks did not react to a pressing query via electronic mail . What little data you’re able to find on AT&T ’s web site — all reap from that initial pressure acquittance — suggest that customers of AT&T ’s broadband and U - verse line net client will be able-bodied to use the Wi - Fi inspection and repair for free , though AT&T call to “ shortly extend the benefit of Wi - Fi at Starbucks to its wireless client . ” Other drug user will have to pay AT&T ’s rates of $ 3.99 for a two hour pulley block , or $ 19.99 per calendar month .
