Wifi Revolution

AT&T (News - Alert), in a release, has announced the launch of its new WiFi Starbucks service at a coffee shop near the AT&T headquarters in San Antonio. AT&T earlier announced plans to provide the new WiFi (News - Alert) service in 7,000 Starbucks locations before the end of the year.

 

“I was told I was the first [Starbucks customer] to get the service in the U.S.,” Blogger Alan Weinkrantz said in an interview, who saw the AT&T trucks at the Starbucks on Tuesday, rushed to his office to pick up his laptop, and successfully logged on, becoming the first customer for the WiFi service. “In the past I paid for it as a T-Mobile (News - Alert) customer.”

 

Weinkrantz said the service “worked perfectly.” Later, he used his iPhone at the San Antonio store and, once again, the iPhone’s WiFi operated without a hitch. AT&T is the exclusive provider of Apple (News - Alert) iPhones in the United States.

 

An AT&T spokeswoman said that the San Antonio location is the first deployment of the provider’s eagerly anticipated AT&T WiFi service. The service is free to qualifying customers of AT&T’s U-verse and broadband services in the company’s 22-state operating region, the spokeswomen added. Also, some additional AT&T customers, as well as holders of Starbucks Cards, will qualify for the service. Tiered service starting at $3.99 per session also will be offered at Starbucks locations.

 

Meanwhile, T-Mobile, whose customers have been using WiFi at Starbucks locations for years, has said that its paid service will continue to be offered at Starbucks locations for at least five more years under a roaming agreement with AT&T. Earlier, AT&T had supplied back-office systems for Starbucks’ restaurants, so the move to accommodate both companies was relatively easy.

 

In a release, Joe Sims, T-Mobile’s VP and general manager of broadband products and services, said, “We are still the only national wireless carrier that is actively expanding the use of Wi-Fi in and outside of customers’ homes through our ... T-Mobile Hotspot @Home service, which allows users to make and receive phone calls using WiFi and Hotspot @Home-enabled mobile devices.”

 

Notably, T-Mobile provides WiFi service for $19.99 a month, which can be used in Starbucks locations.

 

Yet a third provider, Spanish operator FON, also provides a way to connect to Starbucks’ WiFi services. WiFi users, after signing up with FON, can share their WiFi access points with other FON users.

 

Apart from others, another player in Starbucks’ WiFi offering is Apple, which offers its iTunes music purchasing service at Starbucks locations. Both AT&T and T-Mobile are in some way or another bonded through the iPhone (News - Alert). While AT&T has exclusive rights to market the phone in the United States, T-Mobile has exclusive rights in Germany.

 

 

 

Back to WiFi Revolution home