AT&T WiFi hotspots free to iPhone owners, anyone with a brain

Now that AT&T has full control of wireless hotspots like Starbucks and Barnes and Nobles, it looks like they're doling out freebies to their favorite customers: iPhone users. Apparently, if you've got one of Apple's devices, you can hop on the WiFi networks for exactly zero dollars provided you enter your phone number at a login screen. Great for iPhone owners, but a raw deal for everyone else, right? Not so fast, apparently a dumb hack gets you the service on the house too -- just switch your browser's user agent to Mobile Safari, and presto! Free internet. We can't imagine this is a hole that won't get plugged real fast, so get it while the gettin's good.

[Via TUAW]

Read - AT&T Providing Free Wi-Fi Access to iPhone Users
Read - Hotspot hack

[Colby @ May 1st 2008 10:19AM]

Love the signal strength...more bars in more places, you know.

[Nando @ May 1st 2008 10:32AM]

Yeah, right? LOL

[Eric @ May 1st 2008 12:45PM]

LOL...just not there. AT&T is the devil.

[Chuckles McGee @ May 1st 2008 3:41PM]

Free to iPhone owners, anyone with a brain...

Seems that the two are mutually exclusive....

[pco @ May 1st 2008 4:59PM]

i have an iPhone. I am extremely happy with it, i have just learned to live with those missing things that i need/want (i.e. CTRL C/V, backspace to move the cursor, etc). am about to rush over to one of the 38 starbacks within a mile from my house to check this out. BUT, anywho, Did any of you notice that there was ony one bar in the picture of the iPhone.

[cube @ May 1st 2008 5:52PM]

pco:
well now you can do a very neat copy/paste across web-pages using Clippy : http://clippy.soft-use.com/
It has cool interface and really handy at many times..

[erik @ May 1st 2008 8:23PM]

It works I'm in starbucks and i WAS ABLE TO GET ON THE INTERNET THROUGH MY LAPTOP AS WELL AS LET SOMEONE ELSE GET ON USING MY ONE IPHONE NUMBER!

[applefan @ May 1st 2008 9:39PM]

LOL.

I have a hactivated iPhone, so no unlimted WiFi for me. Two free hours should be enough though. I'm not at Starbucks that often.

[MeatyPi @ May 1st 2008 10:19AM]

Or how about just using the phone number of someone you know who has an iPhone, well if you have an iPod Touch, as I do and many of my friends have iPhones so, it should work, right?

[Harkonian @ May 1st 2008 12:28PM]

Why is it that Endgadeteers are (rightfully) down on people stealing WiFi from their neighbors house, but if it's stealing from AT&T's WiFi it's OK?

[Joe @ May 1st 2008 10:19AM]

That's fine if I want to see the iPhone version of web sites on my laptop.

[bob @ May 1st 2008 10:34AM]

you can go to real website you know, there is only a few main websites that have the OPTION of an iphone optimised or the proper one

[mark @ May 1st 2008 11:04AM]

why enter phone number if 'authentication' is based on UAS?
@Joe - have you ever used mobile safari? not much of a difference between mobile and desktop safari

[Joe @ May 1st 2008 12:22PM]

I haven't used mobile safari, but that is beside the point - all that would be changed is the user agent.

But by changing the user agent, websites that look for it will change what they present to you. Usually this means it is formatted to fit a narrower screen, leaving out lots of other bits you'd expect on a full-sized display. Any site that employs this will send you a different page then you might have been expecting if you change the user agent.

And in most cases, you can scroll to the bottom of the page and choose the "regular" version. However, that does add some hassle to the process. It very well may be worth the free wi-fi to put up with this hassle, but I wanted to note that it will happen.

[ryan @ May 3rd 2008 8:57PM]

@Joe I uhh, I ... what?

[James Carlisle @ May 1st 2008 10:21AM]

great for my iphone, but how do i change my browser's user agent on my macbook?

[Westbury @ May 1st 2008 10:31AM]

Just figured this out. Go to Safari Preferences - Advanced - check the show develop menu in menu bar - Develop should now appear in menu bar - develop - user agent - mobile safari Sure hope this works. I'll be checking it out this afternoon.

[Demo @ May 1st 2008 2:21PM]

Or get firefox and user agent switcher extension.

[mian @ May 1st 2008 2:29PM]

One macrumors post (from the link above) confirms that you can do this with firefox and any ATT number, whether you own an iPhone or not.

enter "about:config" in your firegox url space, and the sort for "user". Enter "Mobile Safari 1.1.3" under general.useragent.extra.firefox (might vary depending on your firefox version). Enter ATT phone number when prompted.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=5385562&postcount=146

[Karl Viklund @ May 1st 2008 10:33AM]

You need to charge your battery.

[happy_penguin @ May 1st 2008 10:44AM]

WiFi is faster than the EDGE network which iPhone uses when not using WiFi. In fact, it WiFi will still probably be faster than 3G when iPhone adopts 3G. In my experience with my 3G laptop connection, WiFi is almost always a lot faster.

[Reid @ May 1st 2008 10:54AM]

Eh, that much outta last the better part of a day..

[Abuzar @ May 1st 2008 10:38PM]

Mine only last a day. That's without much internet use, but I play lots of games.

[wil @ May 1st 2008 10:35AM]

Sorry for sounding like a idiot, I know that the iphone has wifi - but I thought the idea of having it was so that you can have internet anywhere anyway as it is meant to have that in the plan :S

[BNel851 @ May 1st 2008 10:41AM]

Correct but WiFi blows the EDGE network out of the water...EDGE is horribly slow....

[happy_penguin @ May 1st 2008 10:45AM]

UGH sorry for double post. First one ended up in the wrong place...

WiFi is faster than the EDGE network which iPhone uses when not using WiFi. In fact, it WiFi will still probably be faster than 3G when iPhone adopts 3G. In my experience with my 3G laptop connection, WiFi is almost always a lot faster.

[Timerider @ May 1st 2008 12:32PM]

@BNel851
You've obviously never used dialup.

[John @ May 1st 2008 10:36AM]

Reminds me of that Verizon commercial:

*Bars Slam down* "What are you in for? WiFi?"

[Reid @ May 1st 2008 10:52AM]

I'm here for the "mutually exclusive groups" jokes

[RobertK @ May 1st 2008 10:55AM]

This was sent out in ERROR, laptop connect and Iphone customers do NOT recieve free wifi access, at least currently

[moo083 @ May 1st 2008 10:59AM]

You yourself are incorrect. I have been to a Starbucks with my iPhone in LA, and it worked great. Free Wi-Fi for my iPhone! I thought I would mention that the first time it had trouble logging me in, and it sent me to an error screen. A T-Mobile error screen. So I think this basically confirms that at least for the moment, AT&T is using the equipment T-Mobile left behind.

[DorianGray @ May 1st 2008 11:07AM]

Worked for me yesterday in McDonald's as well...

I was happily surprised!

[Uncle Fungal @ May 1st 2008 11:22AM]

Behold - RobertK the retard.

[Robert King @ May 1st 2008 11:46AM]

WiFi for mobility Laptop Connect and iPhone customers will not be launching tomorrow, May 1. The SMS sent out on behalf of Ralph De La Vega was sent in error.



All Starbucks WiFi locations have launched and will be available for our wired customers (DSL and U-Verse customers) on May 1. However, WiFi in these locations will not be available for free to our mobility customers.



AT&T is working very hard to have WiFi access for our Laptop Connect and iPhone customers as soon as possible. Stay tuned…

OFFICIAL AT&T comment.

[sfditty @ May 1st 2008 1:10PM]

Whatever the official comment is, it's definately up and running in some places. I just came from Barns and Noble, where it worked, complete with a message customized for iphone, and I also stopped off at a McDonald's to see if it would work there, which it did, with the same iphone message..

[falafeln @ May 1st 2008 10:59AM]

Mobile Safari can be faked in Safari, check "Preferences" -> "Advances" make sure "Show Develop menu in menu bar is on". Open the "Develop" menu -> "User Agent" and choose mobile safari

[Bender Bending Rodriguez @ May 1st 2008 11:01AM]

I was thinking about this yesterday. Unless they set up a system that send a special code to your iPhone after you put in your number then there really isn't much they can do. Even then, you only need access to an iPhone but you'll be able to use WiFi on your notebook.

That is until Mobile OS X v2.0 comes out. Then AT&T can put out a simple app that will only be downloadable to iPhones, not iPod Touches making it much more difficult to spoof regardless of User Agent.

Even if they can't prevent it from being used by iPod Touches—which I don't think is the case—all they'd have to do is have the app look for BT and or the cell phone chip when turned on.

Either way, allowing iPhone users free access with alleviate congestion and additional costs on their cell network. So much so, that any revenue lost from WiFi sales may pale in comparison to the money saved from the much more expensive cell costs.

[jnoel @ May 1st 2008 11:19AM]

This does not work at Macdonalds ATT hotspots. I was there with my kid this weekend and ATT wants me to pay.

[Low Ranked @ May 1st 2008 11:56AM]

Try McDonald's instead, I heard its free there.

[TheKing @ May 1st 2008 11:26AM]

So I can change my user agent in safari and then use my friends phone number b/c he has an iPhone? Cool!

[kirk @ May 1st 2008 11:31AM]

I was playing with this at my local Starbucks on my iPhone this morning. I noticed the URLs bouncing between sbc.com and t-mobile during the login process. When you hit the login button it adds @attwireless.com to your phone number. After you enter your phone number and you get on the network, the T-mobile login success page flashes for a second before you get the ATT wifi connected page. Lots of bouncing around between servers. The input field doesn't remember my phone number so I have to type the whole 10 digits each time I log on.

I was slightly annoyed the connection would time out if you let the iPhone fall asleep. It would be nice if it was persist a little longer like the T-mobile login does. Also, my iPhone reconnected to the T-mobile SSID after waking and I got the t-mobile login page. So I had to manually go in and switch to the ATT ssid. I presume some of these glitches will get fixed as ATT rolls out this formally. I would also suspect that user agent spoofing and simultaneous use of a phone number will get harder to do.

[Paul @ May 1st 2008 11:37AM]

That's so awesome. I don't go to Barnes and Nobles that much, but there is one next to the Cold Stones I like to go to, the one my the Burger Kings. I wish they would have it a K-Marts or Wal-Marts. I've been an AT&Ts customer ever since I got my Apples iPhone.

[JerryA @ May 1st 2008 11:43AM]

I love firing up WMWiFiRouter in these places and giving people free broadband wifi via my phone. It's like the opposite of paying to have my phone get on the WiFi.

[Mooga @ May 1st 2008 11:53AM]

Can a phone number be spoofed or must you enter a valid iphone number to use the free wifi?

[Low Ranked @ May 1st 2008 11:59AM]

"iPhone owners, anyone with a brain"

I think its funny how you seperate these two groups.

[Marcos @ May 1st 2008 11:59AM]

Of course they could keep track of your iPhone's MAC address as well and compare that to the phone number you entered.
Sure that's spoofable too, but it's an extra step to do it.

[Ondra Soukup @ May 1st 2008 12:03PM]

wow, what a hack. so you switch your user agent to mobile safari and then enter your phone number which is the iPhone registered to! Genius!!!

what if you don't have an iPhone contract ?

[wixostrix @ May 1st 2008 12:08PM]

That's so BS! As much money as I pay AT&T for unlimited internet on my Tilt, plus all the other services charges, people like me should get free WiFi too. So not fair *pouts*

[slarity @ May 1st 2008 12:16PM]

I totally agree, if you pay for unlimited internet give em wifi!!

Im going to test this out on my iPhone at McDonalds today =)

[Jawad @ May 1st 2008 12:11PM]

I have an unlocked iPhone on T-mobile network, so when I went to a starbucks, i figured i'd use my uverse login (as we get free att hotspot), but my iphone immediately is recognized through my browser, and it asks me for me iPhone ATT number, but I have Tmobile, and I couldnt find a way to view the "regular" website so I could navigate to the option of using a separate method.