AT&T's Free Wi-Fi Hotspots for iPhones Now Online for Real

It's been a saga of the on again, off again, on again, off again type, but it looks like AT&T's free wi-fi hotspot access is live at last. 17,000 sites across the US are available to iPhone users, including the fabled Starbucks sites. According to AT&T's website, which also offers a hotspot locator tool, AT&T knows "Wi-Fi is hot, and free Wi-Fi even hotter, which is why we are proud to offer iPhone customers free access to the nation's largest Wi-Fi hotspot network." Interesting... after all the shenanigans, it looks more like AT&T thinks wi-fi is just "luke warm", or maybe "tepid." But at least it's finally come good. [AT&T via MacRumors]

credit - gizmondo.com & techmeme.com - 

A couple of readers have reported that AT&T hotspots are now offering free Wi-Fi access to iPhone users. Barnes and Noble, Starbucks and presumably AT&T's 71,000 other Wi-fi hotspot locations are now offering iPhone users a custom portal to access free Wi-Fi. A special iPhone formatted page asks for your mobile phone number. Once entered, you can access the Wi-Fi access for free.

MacRumors has been able to confirm this finding at a local Barnes and Noble. Blurry photo provided:

AT&T recently partnered with Starbucks (displacing T-Mobile) to provide Wi-Fi access to Starbucks' 7000 stores nationwide. This partnership allowed existing AT&T broadband customers free access and AT&T promised that it would "soon extend the benefits of Wi-Fi at Starbucks to its wireless customers", but no official announcement has yet been made.

A list of AT&T's 71,000 hotspots can be found on AT&T's site, including Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, Airports, and McDonald's locations.

Update: MacRumors reader ntrigue confirms that AT&T's system is based on the iPhone's User Agent, which can easily be faked on laptops. He successfully accessed the free iPhone Wifi through his laptop (and a valid iPhone phone number)"

http://www.macrumors.com/2008/04/30/free-atandt-wi-fi-access-for-iphones/