AT&T WiFi hotspots free to iPhone owners, anyone with a brain
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted May 1st 2008 10:07AM
posted May 1st 2008 10:07AM
[Via TUAW]
Read - AT&T Providing Free Wi-Fi Access to iPhone Users
Read - Hotspot hack
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great for my iphone, but how do i change my browser's user agent on my macbook?
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.
Or get firefox and user agent switcher extension.
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
Love the signal strength...more bars in more places, you know.
Yeah, right? LOL
LOL...just not there. AT&T is the devil.
Free to iPhone owners, anyone with a brain...
Seems that the two are mutually exclusive....
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.
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..
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!
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.
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?
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?
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
Correct but WiFi blows the EDGE network out of the water...EDGE is horribly slow....
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.
@BNel851
You've obviously never used dialup.
That's fine if I want to see the iPhone version of web sites on my laptop.
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
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
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.
@Joe I uhh, I ... what?
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
You need to charge your battery.
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.
Eh, that much outta last the better part of a day..
Mine only last a day. That's without much internet use, but I play lots of games.
Reminds me of that Verizon commercial:
*Bars Slam down* "What are you in for? WiFi?"
I'm here for the "mutually exclusive groups" jokes
This was sent out in ERROR, laptop connect and Iphone customers do NOT recieve free wifi access, at least currently
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.
Worked for me yesterday in McDonald's as well...
I was happily surprised!
Behold - RobertK the retard.
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.
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..
This does not work at Macdonalds ATT hotspots. I was there with my kid this weekend and ATT wants me to pay.
Try McDonald's instead, I heard its free there.
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.
Hey AT&T how about us users on your high priced data plans? Guess I'll just have to cut and paste Mobile Safari user agent into my Tilt's browser.
Not bad but here by where i work ,the library(where i work also) has free wifi and also cabevision also offers free wifi to its users(by using ur email password) which both encompass the local starbucks so there are free wifi options without this hack .
My local library doesn't have wifi. They say to just use their computers. But their computers are slow and audio is disabled on them.
Hey everybody, we can all just work and live with majortom1981's and we're set!
You rock dude, thanks!
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.
So I can change my user agent in safari and then use my friends phone number b/c he has an iPhone? Cool!
It worked great this morning using my iPhone at the local Starbucks and they are still using the T-mobile router, although you do have to click on the ATT icon.
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.
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.
Can a phone number be spoofed or must you enter a valid iphone number to use the free wifi?
"iPhone owners, anyone with a brain"
I think its funny how you seperate these two groups.
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.
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 ?
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*
I totally agree, if you pay for unlimited internet give em wifi!!
Im going to test this out on my iPhone at McDonalds today =)
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.
how do u switch r user agent on the iPhone?
why would you need to?
Can you use an iPod touch? If so, do you still need a phone number?
I dont have a iphone contract. How do i change the agent?
Try really hard
What if you put in your friend's iPhone number?
What if he's got a pointed stick?
This is just Perfect.
This happens just one day after I signed up for their Wi-Fi $19.99 plan!!!
I should've known to just wait...
This all seems overly complicated to get WiFi access. Why not just go to one of the many of hundreds of other locations that offer FREE WiFi ?? I know most of the McDonald's restaurants I go to offer free WiFi access. Plus many of the smaller, locally owned restaurants, cafes, bars, etc. I visit now offer free access.
Plus you don't have to pay for overpriced coffee ?
because sometimes we don't want to sit in a lard stained plastic booth
Why not just spoof the mac on your laptop to look like an iphone wifi-card, then set your useragent, and provide whatever idiotic info they want?
Or just use wifi from the dozens of other places that is free to anyone.
Just MHO. Paying for hotspot/wifi access is like paying for water, with all the people offering it, you can always find it free elsewhere.
But even if they do block it, can't we all just use the SDK with the built-in iphone emulator? It's running v 2.0, and it does support apps..
I was told by AT&T that the free WiFi hotspots are for ANYONE who uses AT&T High Speed Internet services. I get my DSL from them, so I can use my MacBook at Starbucks without paying for it.
Of course, I never go to Starbucks. Bigby's coffee is better, and their WiFi is free to anyone.
Only thing I can think of for them to lock it up (ie, keep out non-iphone users) would be for them to send a PIN code to your iphone. Probably more trouble than it's worth on their end though.
I used both my iPhone and my Macbook using the Mobile Safari trick to access the Park Row sbux wifi here in NYC. Worked like a charm. Instruction on how can be found here.
http://funkdigital.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/use-atts-starbucks-wifi-for-free-iphone-hacks/
Windows Mobile, Symbian OS, and Palm OS users:
1) Download NetFront Browser or any other mobile browser which allows you to change the User-Agent. Opera Mini, Opera Mobile, and PIE do not allow you to, so I strongly recommend using NetFront - it's also pretty functional (better than Opera Mobile, worse than Opera Mini).
Link: (Windows Mobile version) http://www.access-company.com/products/mobile_solutions/netfrontmobile/browser/35_wm_tp.html
2) Install it. Start it up. Menu -> Tools -> Browser Settings ->Network ->
3) Simply add a new user-agent profile with the following info.:
Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/1A543a Safari/419.3
4) Test it out and let me know if it works.
test
we receive you loud and fail
phanbouy i hate you so much
haha, get a life. and a shrink.
oh its on
I left AT&T back in January this year (2008) and worked directly with the iPhone WiFi authentication project. When I left, the WiFi authentication was setup as follows:
AT&T Broadband and UVerse Customers with 3 meg service or higher would be able to authenticate to the AT&T WiFi HotSpots using their Broadband username and password. This was done via a RADIUS profile for these customers which allows WiFi authentication.
Since January I have left AT&T and also purchased an iPhone. As I no longer have AT&T (BellSouth) Broadband, I am not aware of any way to authenticate to a WiFi hotspot using my AT&T Wireless credentials.
Hello. How do you get this AT&T WiFi hotspots on your iphone for free?
Thanks
Does it just pop up once you reach a hotspot or do you have to enter a certain URL address?
look i just got an iphone but i have a question if i use the wirless of my neighbers house does still at & t charge me ?