Wifi Revolution

If you are a New Yorker or New York visitor looking for WiFi and the local Starbucks is packed, you can now tap into AT&T’s (News - Alert) “hot zone” in the city's renowned Times Square.

AT&T today announced the launch of an AT&T Wi-Fi area, providing coverage for AT&T customers visiting and residing in New York who use Wi-Fi enabled smartphones, laptops, netbooks and other devices.

Company officials said the new Wi-Fi coverage zone is a pilot deployment to explore the use of Wi-Fi to provide an additional mobile broadband option in areas with consistently high 3G traffic and mobile data use.

In addition, AT&T has installed Wi-Fi service in the north central part of Times Square, near 7th Avenue between 45th and 47th Street, to provide a large outdoor hotspot zone that AT&T users can access using any Wi-Fi enabled device. According to company officials, the AT&T Wi-Fi hotzone at Times Square is available at no additional charge for nearly 32 million AT&T customers with qualifying smartphone, 3G LaptopConnect and AT&T High Speed Internet plans.

The popularity of Wi-Fi service particularly on mobile phones has grown tremendously. In the first quarter, AT&T handled 53.1 million Wi-Fi connections on its network, which is nearly five times higher than the same quarter last year, company officials said.

According to AT&T officials, in the first quarter of 2010, the majority of AT&T Wi-Fi connections (69 percent) were made from smartphones and integrated devices, up from 35 percent a year ago in the first quarter of 2009.

In related news,  according to reports, for any consumer that purchases the iPhone (News - Alert) and its accompanying contract from service provider AT&T, there will be a big cancellation fee if they decide the service and its smartphone is not for them. Starting June 1, AT&T has raised its cancellation fee – including the iPhone – to the whopping $325 amount, the Wall Street Journal reported.