iPhone owners will get free AT&T WiFi after all

MacRumors was among the first last week to report that iPhone owners were enjoying free WiFi at AT&T hotspots, but after a few days of wireless bliss, the service disappeared. I suspect part of that shut down was due to folks spoofing the Mobile Safari User Agent on notebooks, but that's just a guess. Looks like the free service wasn't a fluke though: MacRumors astutely noticed this tidbit on the official AT&T iPhone rate plans page:

"To use iPhone, you'll need to sign up for a 2-year service agreement. Plans start at $59.99 and include Visual Voicemail, Unlimited Data (email and web), 200 SMS text messages and access to AT&T's more than 17,000 Wi-Fi hotspots, including Starbucks* all for use in the U.S.
*Wi-Fi available at U.S. company operated Starbucks locations equipped with a hotspot."

AT&T doesn't indicate how much access you'll have, so it could be limited. You should get two-hours of free WiFi per day when you make a purchase with a Starbucks card, so perhaps it's the same limited deal. Regardless, I'd expect iPhone users to see the free WiFi access back in the very short term. Unlimited would be nice, but I'd take two hours.

Comments

[ignar]

It says the access is available for hotspots other than Starbucks, so Starbucks purchase may not be required. Probably moot point though since most will get coffee when they're in Starbucks.
I'm curious free wifi will be available with laptop as well. Changing browser ID is not hard anyway. Let's see how soon iPhone tethering solution for 3G and Wifi will be out.

[Sumocat]

Sorry for being nitpicky, but the persistent misuse of the word "free" has been bothering me lately (probably because it has been persistently misused lately): hotspot usage is not free if it is included with a paid service plan. By definition, a service is not free if you're paying a fee to use it.

[ignar]

Sumocat, I understand your point and agree that it's not free for new users, but for us current users, it feels like free.
When a=c, if a+b=c, then b=0. :)

[VictorE]

reminds me of a sig file i read:

What is a "free" gift? Aren't all gifts free?

[SiteCharts.com]

They better start offering that with the other unlimited data plans.

[Sumocat]

ignar: I'm not saying it's not a good deal, but "feels like free" is not free. And I'm pretty sure it costs them less per MB to send data over a wifi hotspot than over their phone network, especially since the hotspot host pays the electricity cost, so their "free" offering could be saving them money. Still good for the user, but I'd find it a bit audacious if they charged more for something that costs them less.