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iPhone Free WiFi Is Back
Posted by
samzenpus
on Wed Oct 29, 2008 06:43 PM
from the everyone-loves-free-stuff dept.
from the everyone-loves-free-stuff dept.
scorp1us writes "iPhone users used to be able to get free Wifi from AT&T hot spots, including Starbucks locations. The service was pulled because of the browser-agent hack. Now the service is being re-launched, this time with a link sent via SMS to the iPhone for the hotspot, valid for 24 hours."
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And... (Score:3, Insightful)
Who the hell cares? Free wifi. I can get that pretty much anywhere.
What, is this like "Oh, it has the word "iPhone" in it, so we HAVE to put it up front!" ?
Re:And... (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:And... (Score:5, Interesting)
Indeed. We took my iPod Touch (and my wife's iPhone) with us to Austria and Germany for a vacation earlier this month, and were quite dismayed to find very few hotspots at all, and none free anywhere we went, from little town to major city like Vienna or Munich. Only the last three of our hotels (of seven) offered wifi for guests - and that was all we had.
(Perhaps there were hotspots in other places in the towns, away from the city centers and other public places that we visited. But without reliable web access we couldn't find them.)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
JiWire [jiwire.com] provides a list of (international) wifi hotspots, and the site detects iPhones and presents an optimized search interface.
Re: (Score:2)
Adn how are we supposed to get to that site when we don't have an internet connection in the first place!!! :P
Re: (Score:2)
In Italy I understand its legally frowned upon to have free wifi (i was there for a month). At net-cafes they are required to ID you in case of 'terrorists'. The first time I laughed because I thought he was joking (I'm a italian university student from canada so it wasn't racism). But across the country in numerous towns they were dead serious about it. I found maybe a few dozen free wifi spots after a month traveling the country.
Re: (Score:2)
The days of ubiquitous free open WiFi are long gone. Newer WiFi routers usually enable WPA or at least WEP encryption by default now. AT&T has been rolling out their 2Wire WiFi routers with at least WEP enabled for at least 2 or 3 years now. When I moved into my neighborhood I counted 8 or 9 open access points and today there are zero that are not protected by some form of encryption.
I don't remember the last time I stayed in a hotel that offered free WiFi that didn't require you to access it through
News Flash (Score:4, Informative)
Starbucks is still trying to charge for WiFi.
I will meet you all at the Atlanta Bread Company, Panera Bread, or any of a number of other places that offer over priced coffee and Free WiFi.
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Not to mention the food is a hell of a lot better at both, and so is the amount of space, the furniture, hell... everything.
The only thing Starbucks has going for it now is that it overbuilt stores, and is bloody everywhere. The coffee and "ambiance" aren't going to hold up in this market... and many will close.
Hell, if they're in your area, most Caribou Coffee shops are way nicer to hang out in than Starbucks.
They were the trendsetter, the also-rans now have studied them and are coming to kick their ass.
Really? Where? (Score:2)
Because I walked into the Smyrna location just the other day and my iPod Touch connected instantly without any issue.
I haven't been in a local Atlanta area Starbucks that required me to do anymore than turn the device on.
Re: (Score:2)
Starbucks is still trying to charge for WiFi.
Give me a WLAN card with a programmable MAC and at least one paying customer to piggyback, and they can try all they want.
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Give me a WLAN card with a programmable MAC and at least one paying customer to piggyback, and they can try all they want.
What happens to all the unrequested return packets, do most OS's have little trouble discarding them?
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They're just dropped as they're not part of the connection table.
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YMMV if it is independently operated.
There are no independently operated Starbucks stores.
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I stand corrected. I've only seen the kiosks or mini-bars that are affiliated with another business (Albertson's, Safeway, etc), not a full stand alone store that is independent. I didn't think they were allowing that.
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FYI, from Starbucks site:
Does Starbucks franchise?
Starbucks does not franchise operations and has no plans to franchise in the foreseeable future.
In North America, the majority of our stores are Company-operated. As an exception, Starbucks may enter into licensing arrangements with companies who provide access to real estate which would otherwise be unavailable such as airport locations, national grocery chains, major food services corporations, college and university campuses and hospitals.
Hack?! Ha. (Score:4, Insightful)
Hack? I hardly call changing your User Agent a hack.
This should read:
"The service was pulled because of poorly implemented security."
Re: (Score:2)
What security?
No Fair (Score:1, Interesting)
What about iPod touch?
Yeah... (Score:4, Interesting)
I found out because AT&T texted me to let me know that my iphone could now get free WiFi... But they aren't supposed to know i even have one... i don't have an iPhone plan, i bought my original iPhone from apple, then took it home and unlocked/activated it without ever agreeing to a new contract. Looks like they're recognizing my IMEI... I really wish i could change that, but none of the programs seem to work with the new firmwares! :-/
The worst part is, since they know i have an iPhone, they block MMS even with a hacked phone running an MMS program, but even though they know i have an iPhone, i don't get visual voicemail!
-Taylor
Re: (Score:2)
I'm mortified about the cake incident. Simply mortified!
Re: (Score:2)
Visual voicemail is an AT&T service, so why would you expect get it with a different provider?
I'm mortified about the cake incident. Simply mortified!
No, i have AT&T, just not an iPhone plan. I already had a contract with a data package and i didn't feel like agreeing to a new contract.
-Taylor
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
AT&T needs to specifically provision the visual voicemail on your plan. I don't know, but I don't think it is tied specifically to the iPhone data plan.
When I switched to the iPhone, the initial rep failed to provision the visual voicemail service to my plan. It took a separate call for them to provision it properly.
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Iphone Free Wifi? (Score:2, Insightful)
One could easily read that as "wifi free from iphone". A part of me died when i read the summary.
what about the regular data plan users who pay $60 (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:what about the regular data plan users who pay (Score:2)
I think the basic idea is that the iPhone user will be using less bandwidth than someone with an unlimited data plan on their laptop (or, for that matter, a cell phone + tethering). Most people don't want to do all their internet on their cell phone.
Also of note, the iPhone 3G plan is $30/month, so you're only paying double. ;-)
So your options are to 1. get an iPhone, 2. get AT&T DSL (which offers a similar benefit), or 3. pay per-use or per-month.
Of course, you'd think they'd want you to use wifi rath
No kidding? (Score:2)
I sure thought that said "IPhone Free Wife" at first and thought,"Oh what a relief! Finally an Apple product for the 21st Century husband!"
Tmobile and the G1 (Score:3, Interesting)
T-Mobile G1 with Google gets free hotspots too (Score:3, Interesting)
Same for G1 users.
T-Mobile offers free unlimited access to all of their T-Mobile hotspots (which includes the new AT&T rebranded ones for another 5 years) to their G1 data plan subscribers. T-Mo even has a free GPS-enabled Hotspot Finder [t-mobile.com] for the G1 that handles the login details for you.
Do they charge for the SMS? (Score:2)
That'll be the first question I'll have... if I ever use it. I'd rather hang out at Panera Bread, Caribou Coffee, or a whole lot of other places than Starbucks.
Oh yeah, I have WiFi at home, and coffee too. Wow. What a place! I'll be here...
The only place it looks useful to me, if I were still traveling a lot, is at the airports.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
That does sound like a rockin' place. I'll be there too. Where do you live?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Do they charge for the SMS?
I've received promotional text messages from my phone company on my cell phone for which I have not been charged, so it is within the realm of possibility that standard text messaging rates will not apply to these messages.
SMS Charges? (Score:2, Interesting)
a link sent via SMS to the iPhone
Anyone know if AT&T will charge you to receive that message?
Not available at all Starbucks unfortunately (Score:2, Informative)
This news in mind, I checked out two locations I passed by this morning.
Both offer WiFi through T-Mobile.
Re:how to get it iphone free? (Score:5, Informative)
So what's the hack this time chaps? How do we get free wifi without an iphone
Well, simple browser-agent swapping didn't work for me. I tried it on Safari switched to identify as Safari on the iPhone and I didn't get the same login screen as my iPhone did. They might be using the MAC address of the iPhone to determine if it is an iPhone in the first place. I'll try setting my laptop MAC address to be the same as my iPhone and give that a chance the next time I'm at a Starbucks.
Of course this still means you need to know the phone number of an AT&T account and have access to the phone so you get the SMS with the validation link so no free wifi for all, just AT&T customers.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
municipal WiFi/WiMax.
free open public WiFi access is a lot more useful & convenient than having a bunch of closed commercial WiFi hotspots. it would open the door to a whole new range of wireless applications that simply can't be achieved using closed WiFi--especially at extortionate hourly rates they charge at places like airports and hotels.
things like carrier-less VoIP mobile phones, portable internet radios, or even internet-enabled smart vehicles that transmit/receive real-time traffic reports to h
Re:how to get it iphone free? (Score:5, Funny)
Ok, this is a somewhat tricky hack so pay attention.
1. Buy a Starbucks Card [starbucks.com]
2. Register the Card [sbc.com]
3. Now here's the really tricky part. Go into your nearest Starbucks and attempt to access the Wifi. When you are prompted for user/pass, enter the username and password you registered the card with.
Voila! Free Wifi! Make sure you charge or refill the card at least once a month or this hack will stop working.
You're welcome.
Parent
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That wouldn't be free if I had to buy it now, would it?
Re: (Score:2)
You asked without an iPhone. And you're not paying for the Wifi. Ergo, you are getting free Wifi without an iPhone.
Re: (Score:2)
You keep using that word free, I don't think it means, what you think it means.
Re:how to get it iphone free? (Score:4, Insightful)
You are going to Starbucks to drink coffee, right? If you pay for the coffee with a gift card, you get the Wifi for free. Since you were there to buy coffee, and you didn't pay any additional money to get the Wifi, that sounds like it's free to me.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
In which case you can mooch off your own damn WiFi. ;-)
Re: (Score:2)
Au contraire. I think the word you're looking for is "steal".
Re: (Score:2)
Not free, you get it "for no extra cost" when you use a gift card to buy coffee from starbucks...
And you'd be buying some coffee anyway, since they wont just let you sit there using the wifi without buying a drink.
Re: (Score:2)
So you have to buy the gift card? I've never heard of this gift card. Can't you just do the same with cash?
!Australia Rocks (Score:2)
In Australia iPhone users are able to get free Wifi from Telstra hot spots, including all McDonalds, All Airports locations. A 6 digit key sent via SMS to the iPhone for the hotspot, what is better, you can put the key into your computer at the same hotspot and have free internet!
Never mind that national firewall [slashdot.org] we just read about.
Re:!Australia Rocks (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, because appaearing an a Slashdot story means it has been implemented.
It's on the government's drawing board, and they're rightly copping a lot of flak for the plan. Business will soon weigh in with the "crippled Internet equals crippled business" line, and the plan will never see the light of day.
The system works, and Australia does, in fact, rock.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)