Comments on: AT&T free iPhone WiFi has been suspended

By: deezamu

deezamu — Thu, 22 May 2008 19:03:41 +0000

There is always Panera Bread for the freebies

By: FireFish

FireFish — Tue, 06 May 2008 02:51:18 +0000

Duh, testing rollout for new plans with WiFi in Starbucks with the release of the 3G iPhone.

Think about it; why would AT&T sit by while Starbucks partnered up with T-Mobile, a huge enemy of AT&T now considering the amount of hacked iPhone business they stole; takes all wireless business?

My Theory: AT&T tells Jobs that if they want them to come through with the 3G network for their new iPhone, that he’ll have to pull strings with Starbucks and get them into their Wireless Market.

I don’t know about exclusivity, but I know it’s gonna happen.

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As it is now, you buy an iPhone, sign up with AT&T for service, so why should you have to go, give T-Mobile your info just to use the WiFi in Starbucks?? They’re umbrella’ing everything for the average consumer.

By: EuriEuroGuy

EuriEuroGuy — Mon, 05 May 2008 16:36:46 +0000

This is no shocker, ATT is testing this to pare down EDGE traffic, to make their company more profitable, why would someone care if they get free WIFI if they have already paid for 24/7 access to EDGE ? I use WIFI on my iPhone because in MOST instances it is faster than the crappy EDGE network service. But the real story here is that ATT is trying to pretend to “give” something for free that you already have, ridiculous. ATT blows, why Apple teamed up with them is beyond me….geez.

By: Wayne schulz

Wayne schulz — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:26:08 +0000

My leading theory is that this will be back and you’ll log in with your Starbucks card # in addition to an iPhone #. This is what Starbucks/ATT have said previously would be happening.

Using just your phone number seemed a tad too easy for people to spoof. I’m sure the folks at AT&T realized that word would spread fast.

Could this have just been a bid for free publicity? If so, it worked.

By: rtln

rtln — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:17:50 +0000

I think it would be safe to say thanks to all the tech blogs who publicized the hack for getting it turned off so quickly. If it were indeed a nice little Easter egg from AT&T, it certainly got spoiled quickly. I rather believe it was all a big accident to begin with. Why would AT&T give anything away for free? It’s not in their character.