macnn/electronista
05/20/2008, 10:00am, EDT
Tuesday, May 20thAT&T gives PC card users free Wi-Fi; phones soon
AT&T on Tuesday announced that it would provide free Wi-Fi to all users of its LaptopConnect service. The plan lets owners go online at any of 17,000 hotspots, including almost 7,000 Starbucks locations. Those who install AT&T's connection software for compatible cellular data cards also get an intelligent hotspot finder, the carrier says: the manager will automatically recognize any AT&T-backed Wi-Fi points and give users the option of switching to cut down on their cell network transfers.
Taking advantage of the service requires a $60 DataConnect plan or better. The company also promises to extend the service to "additional wireless customers" in the future but refrains from providing details.
AT&T is known to have briefly launched and retracted an iPhone Wi-Fi service that gave all owners of Apple's handset free access after entering their phone numbers; separate reports received by Electronista also suggest the American provider will extend the feature to all Wi-Fi capable smartphones in the near future.
Filed under: iPhone
Other story tags: AT&T, Starbucks, LaptopConnect
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pretty tasteless
I noticed that one of the popup ads on the page where it's talking about Telefonica introducing the iPhone in Spain links to a Samsung Instinct phone ad. Guys and gals, I know you need advertising to support the content, but could you do it more tastefully?
Mac
Maybe they'll release some software for mac at some point too.... LOL.
I 2nd that
I have an itsy bitsy 5MB/mo plan. I do email with it when I have no other way. It plain stinks to try to figure out how much I used. The PC software will tell you I think. I'd use half of my monthly allotment finding my way around AT&T's site trying to find out how much bandwidth I've used only to find it only updates once a day maybe.