AT&T, continuing to be the open, giving, and free-wheeling loony that it is, has decided to bestow cost-free access to its 10,000+ WiFi hotspots (for its broadband subscribers, that is). Effective immediately, if you're tossing money the company's way for any high-speed access, you can hop onto wireless networks in retail shops, restaurants, and airports free of charge... provided they're AT&T networks. We know its a lot to handle, but get this -- the telco has also upped the speeds of its U-verse service to a whopping 10 Mbps downstream / 1.5 Mbps upstream configuration, undoubtedly warming the hearts of AT&T subscribers hankering for a little more bandwidth to sustain their ever-increasing 'net needs. It's like the holidays all over again.
Read - AT&T To Deliver Free Access To Nation's Largest Wi-Fi Network
Read - AT&T Boosts Bandwidth Choices and Speed with 10 Mbps Offer for U-verse Customers
posted Jan 24th 2008 at 2:35PM
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Timerider @ Jan 24th 2008 2:42PM
I still can't get DSL.
Bring it out here you bastards!
Fred @ Jan 24th 2008 2:43PM
So, do I get this for my iPhone?
Anthony @ Jan 24th 2008 3:08PM
That's what I want to know.
kjb434 @ Jan 24th 2008 5:24PM
Only if you have ATT broadband (i.e. DSL). It's not part of a wireless package.
Rick wilson @ Jan 24th 2008 2:47PM
ummm, they've been doing this for a LONG time, I don't know why they bothered to yet again tell everyone about it. If you have ATT broadband you can jump on ATT wifi spots. You sign in using your email and password used on the ATT site. I've been doing this for a long time.
crow610 @ Jan 24th 2008 4:36PM
Wrong. With their basic service you don't get free hotspot access. I'm hoping what this means is ANYONE with AT&T broadband will get free access to their hotspots.
Rick wilson @ Jan 24th 2008 4:56PM
What do you mean wrong? What is their basic service? I have a normal, non special, broadband connection with ATT, and I have access to their wifi hotspots, and have for a while.
Garst @ Jan 26th 2008 4:01AM
It wasn't available for customers that had the 768Kb and 1.5Mb speeds before. It's still not available for 768 customers, but I don't care cause I have 1.5. I'm going to need to go to BN and try this out.
Peter K. @ Jan 24th 2008 2:53PM
wtf is U-verse? Is that their basic broadband (landline)? Is that the wireless access? I even went to their website, but couldn't get through the slimy sweet marketspeak.
Fred @ Jan 24th 2008 2:58PM
uverse is FIOS for ATT peoples
John Stracke @ Jan 25th 2008 7:56AM
Fiber to the neighborhood.
brembo @ Jan 24th 2008 8:16PM
Does the extra internet bandwidth eat into the bandwidth that is normally allotted for IPTV? More speed is great, but not if it means more compression on my HD! When are they gonna roll out the channel bonding the promised so that you can watch HD in more than one room at once? That's what I'm waiting for.
Mark Evans @ Jan 24th 2008 3:14PM
So what's the big-picture strategy here? Carriers are not in the business of free so something's up.
plyx @ Jan 24th 2008 3:21PM
Well, the bidding began today for the 700Mhz spectrum. Maybe AT&T is trying to look real pretty for the FCC.
Timmy @ Jan 24th 2008 3:23PM
Does this do anything for current High end broadband ATT DSL users?
Paul @ Jan 24th 2008 3:58PM
That's what I want to know.
I'm paying for AT&T Elite DSL and I wouldn't mind seeing some speed increases.
omerhi @ Jan 24th 2008 3:41PM
They're trying to get as many people to hop on their network before they start snooping at it all.
Josh @ Jan 24th 2008 3:52PM
So if i have AT&T DSL right now how do i go about signing up for free wifi?
Predator.Z6 @ Jan 24th 2008 5:11PM
You don't need to sign up. Just use your ATT DSL username and password when you try to access their wi-fi service.
Riles @ Jan 24th 2008 4:01PM
Just reiterating what Rick Wilson already posted, but I signed up with ATT broadband in August last year and this feature was in one of the brochures that came with the rest of the crap they unloaded on me. I've used it successfully in a few places, but my town is a little low on ATT hotspots.
BigD145 @ Jan 24th 2008 4:11PM
The internet is a series of tubes and we're quickly running out of pipe space! LOL
bachviet @ Jan 24th 2008 4:25PM
This is available for DSL Pro or Elite customers. I have used it to surf the web at McDonald's. Too bad U-verse is not available yet at my area.
ben.moore @ Jan 24th 2008 4:28PM
Before you get too excited about 10,000 locations with free Wi-Fi, go look at some of the lists: http://attwifi.know-where.com/attwifi/cgi/index?mapid=airport&design=default&lang=en&option=&optionOPT1=&optionOPT2=
This is the US airport list. I count Bentonville, AR (home of Wal-Mart), Burbank, CA, Visalia, CA, Ronald Reagan, Indianapolis, IN, Raleigh-Durham, NC, Philadelphia, PA, Dallas Love Field, TX, Dulles, and Seattle-Tacoma as free. The rest are all "Premier" which means $s.
I didn't see ANY in the world airport list (http://attwifi.know-where.com/attwifi/cgi/index?mapid=airport2&design=default&lang=en&option=&optionOPT1=&optionOPT2=).
JohnnyGTO @ Jan 24th 2008 5:05PM
Was hoping this included us AT&T cell phone users with the unlimited data plans. But alas it looks like we are left out :-(
I would think getting me off the tower and onto the net as much as possible would benefit AT&T
John Stracke @ Jan 25th 2008 7:59AM
Same here. Hey, I'm a broadband subscriber--I have 384kbps on my phone, and going to 1.8Mbps would be the same service.
Eh @ Jan 24th 2008 5:55PM
Thanks Qwest. Oh I forgot... Qwest sucks.
Garst @ Jan 26th 2008 4:05AM
What are you talking about? Qwest® is a leading provider of voice, video and data services across America and the world. Or at least that's what it says on their own website that they publish themselves.
Mike G @ Jan 24th 2008 6:21PM
Yeah, I've had this for a couple of years ($1.99/mo) and used it once. It's totally useless unless you're interested in working from the playscape at McDonalds. Any decent hotspot cost premium $$$.
Zoobos @ Jan 24th 2008 8:26PM
ATT customer? it's hard to define, does it include previous SBC, BellSouth etc?
Caps Suck @ Jan 24th 2008 8:33PM
I just talked to an AT&T Rep yesterday it also looks like a 5 Gig Cap is on the way for AT&T broadband customers. So much for the most open and Free Wireless Carrier.
Anthony @ Jan 24th 2008 8:42PM
They may be announcing this today, but I have been logging in at my favorite Barnes and Noble locations around metro Atlanta since early last fall using my bellsouth.net information on att network
Drew @ Jan 24th 2008 10:59PM
You would think living right down the street from AT&T HQ I would be able to get it... BUT NO. Dumb.
engadget @ Jan 31st 2008 6:34PM
I called AT&T Today for something unrelated to this and I asked 2 different people about the 10/1.5 and they both said it will be for an added cost. So If your already U-Verse Elite or whatever (6/1) then its going to be another $10-$15 a month to go to the 10/1.5.
They said it will be $50/mo for the new plan and I think my Elite is $35 or $40 right now.
The Tech Support guy I spoke with said "this summer" we will be getting 2 HD Streams per household and Whole House DVR (Ability to watch something stored on the DVR from a room with only an STB)
I also asked the Tech Support guy about possibly getting together with MS and making a peice of software that could be installed on MCE (XP or Vista) machines that would allow you to use your existing MCE machine as an STB (or even DVR). For those that dont know, U-Verse TV is just IPTV and is sent to you using MPEG4 Compression and using Multicast on the networking side. Anyway, he seemed clueless. But he came back with "Media Server" has been talked about and may be added this summer or at a later time. What I think he was referring to though is a feature MS already has for the IPTV software that allows you to connect to a Media Server in your house and play back MP3s and Slideshows and such from a compatible media server. Similar to the PS3, etc.