AT&T to include unlimited WiFi for HSDPA customers

Considering the "on-again, off-again" nature of the free AT&T WiFi for Apple iPhone customers, this might be another spin down the same path. Still, I have to believe that AT&T has some type of plans to add WiFi access for the paying masses based on a few days of open access. The latest news comes in the form of alleged internal correspondence that the Boy Genius Report has. Apparently sometime today we'll hear an official announcement indicating that all Broadband Laptop Connect customers paying $60 or more monthly will receive unlimited WiFi access at over 17,000 AT&T hotspots for no additional charge. Smartphones should see the same access later this year, although I'd expect additional details since 3G plans for those typically aren't $60 or more per month.

It all makes sense to me as these types of add-ons can help offload traffic on the more expensive infrastructure a 3G network requires. This moves people away from the towers so folks not at a hotspot get a better experience... come to think of it, the one's using WiFi probably do too. I hit up AT&T's press site and see no official word at the time of this writing, but I'll put an update with link if I see it later today.

Update: It's official per an AT&T press release. Interesting footnote though: "¹LaptopConnect users must have AT&T Communication Manager (version 6.8 or higher) installed on their PC. Support for free Wi-Fi through AT&T Communication Manager exists only for laptops running Windows operating systems on May 1." [Emphasis mine] Does this mean that Mac notebooks aren't supported at all or just through the AT&T software? I suspect Macs will have access through their native Network connection settings, but they might want to clarify the PR.