Free wifi! SIKE!

Well now, that's rude! Don't they even stop to consider...
Ohhh. I get it now! AT&T..It's a PHONE company..
Yes, now it makes perfect sense.

i believe its "psych!" or we could always got with "NOT!"

Perhaps this is a feature that AT&T is planning on rolling out with the new 3G iPhone and they just accidentally posted it early.

Once can hope, can't one?

Free wifi! Saké!

@IphtashuFitz:

It's a WiFi location....I don't think it matters if the phone is 3G or not...

@zachwd: I believe it's "douche"...

Beautiful. And I was hoping to watch The Office via NBCs new iphone page at my local Barnes and Noble instead of on my flat panel in the privacy of my own home.

Bet someone's job got deleted too.

Meh. Someone probably just screwed up the graph, so they pulled it down when they saw the mistake. Big deal.

My guess is that Apple caught them releasing that info accidentally (for the second time) and told them to change it. I think it'll be a new announcement at the upcoming event.

I'm curious, if someone bought an iPhone yesterday, can AT&T just change the terms? Or are they obliged to provide access to those who purchased the phone while it was advertised? If not, is it a get-out-of-contract free card?

AT&T is basically in a legal dilemma right now because ofit's aquisition of the T-Mobile hotspots. T-Mobile still owns the hardware through Jan. 1, 09, and therefor, any hotspot account holder has to still be able to get on for free. Apparently, between starbucks, t-mobile and at&t, it is proving to be very difficult to find a way to offer free service to at&t users, while still allowing hotspot users on for free. although it should be figured out soon, by 01.01.09, it won't be an issue anymore as at&t will own the rights and the hardware and be able to do what they like.

Well here we go again....AT&T wants money for everything! I understand that charging for Internet access makes sense, but businesses such as Panera Bread have been offering free Internet from day one. I don't see it drastically affecting their business. In fact, I would put a bet on the fact that people who need to stay connected while they eat lunch or enjoy a Half-Caf Soy "why bother" latte come for the sustenance, stay for the Internet, and come right back again. Offering free access can't hurt a company. Aside from the legal ramifications of unlawful use (usually covered by a blanket license agreement upon login) it makes perfect sense to keep it free. I promise you Starbucks, your inept staff and your generic homogenous coffee blends are what will effect your bottom-dollar earnings, not the removal of your Internet charges.

You do realize that Wifi has been a free thing ever since the iPhone came out, right? I don't see what the problem is - ATT has advertised this fact (along with Apple) since before and after the iPhone came out...just like every other Wifi capable device ATT has released!

@el bryanto:
Ow, snap! :P

It would be cheaper for them to allow wifi access to iphone users than have them use the edge network. No?

@SowndOfDeth: See now that makes sense.

WiFi Access does not necessarily mean that it is free, right? For example, hotels offer WiFi, but most of them make you pay $10/day for it. But they can still legally claim that offer access to their WiFi. Unless it says free, it ain't so, and even then, it usually isn't.

If you were a businessman, would you rather stay at a hotel that offered free wireless access, or one that made you get an access every day and charge you $8/hr to send e-mails.

If I was a business man, I would have a very beautiful secretary :)

Called ATT, they said that free wifi is offered to all ATT land line customers, and some Hot spots are available free to iPhone users. They could not confirm which hot spots were available for free, and said that I would have to call each individual location to find out, or visit in person. I called all of the locations in the Denver area, and no one had any idea whether or not iPhone users could use wifi at their location for free.

Seems to me like it is not happening, at least not on a large scale.

@TheManator:

You do realize that only free wifi hot spots are free, right? If you don't have an ATT account, you can't get on an ATT hot spot for FREE. According to ATT's web site, free access would be granted to iPhone users at their (Normally not free) hot spots. That's what this is about.

This would be a good time to save the page that says it's free.

@BigRocket: Not really. There's no point in putting that you can access ATT hotsposts as a feature of a rate plan. And considering that just last week iPhone users could access the ATT sites for free with its own custom login page means it is a planned feature.

The problem -- like many things at behemoths like ATT -- is that the mobile phone division doesn't talk to the wifi division and vice versa. So the ATTwireless.com people put the change to the calling plan up and the hotspot team created an iphone free access page and deployed it apparently on their own schedules instead of marching to a common release date.

Having free wifi access to the ATT hotspots makes sense so as not to overtax the EDGE and eventually 3G data networks. For 3G it is even more important since ATT doesn't have coverage everywhere.

This is excactly what O2 did with the Cloud in the UK when it released the iPhone there since O2 didn't have a great EDGE network and many of its customers would be used to the 3G experience.

My money is on that the free WiFi for iPhones will be one of Apple's announcement at the developer's conference in June, and AT&T just jumped the gun a little bit early, got their hand smacked by the Hand of Steve, and fixed the error.

What's the big deal with giving away free WiFi to iPhone users anyways? It's not like you going to sit there with an iPhone and download The Wrath of Khan off torrent servers.

KKKKHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNN!!!!!!!!!

I think we need to start calling it WTFi, because this is just confusing.

I don't pay for WiFi. I go where it's really free (and there's always www.jiwire.com to find it) or I use my Treo or I do without.

You have to have FamilyTalk to get free AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots.

You have to have FamilyTalk to get free Access to AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots.

@EBone:
That is probably the case. AT&T and Apple's relationship has had a rocky start and communications between the two have caused problems in the past. To iPhone users who have ever called tech support know this to be true. If its a network issue, AT&T sends you to apple trying to convince you its a software problem that they cannot fix. If its a hardware issue, Apple blames the network and scurries you off the AT&T's crap automated phone system. Why can't they create a division that supply's both needs.

@justinpe: And that is what I meant :)

T-Mobile's total internet dataplan (19.99) includes hotspot access and EDGE. Works great with an unlocked iPhone.

we're the phone company. we dont have to care

@justinpe: "Called ATT, they said that free wifi is offered to all ATT land line customers" To clarify, the free Wi-Fi access is to those who have Internet land line (DSL) accountsNOT landline Voice accounts. At least that is the situation for Los Angeles area customers.

Native American givers!

I'd have to agree with the comments here about taking it out of the plan because it's not really a part of the rate subscription. The AT&T wireless spots still let iPhone users connect just fine.

Precisely why I don't have one. Great phone. Crap company. The only thing worse would be if it were exclusive to Sprint but AT&T is running a close second.