iPhone Free WiFi Is Back

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."

News Flash

[LWATCDR]

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.

Re:And...

[c_forq]

I used to think this too. Than I got a job that required me to travel a lot, and discovered you can't count on getting free WiFi all of the time. If you are in a college town you are usually set, but I've even been burned there before.

Australia Rocks

[Anonymous Coward]

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!

Re:how to get it iphone free?

[Graff]

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.

Re:And...

[lastchance_000]

JiWire [jiwire.com] provides a list of (international) wifi hotspots, and the site detects iPhones and presents an optimized search interface.

Re:News Flash

[WillyDavidK]

Actually all you have to do to get free Wi-Fi at starbucks is use gift card the next time you buy something. You can register the card online and they give you a free wi-fi account. The account expires if you don't use the gift card for over a month.

Re:!Australia Rocks

[GaryPatterson]

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.

Re:Yeah...

[geemon]

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.

Re:Do they charge for the SMS?

[HTH NE1]

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.

Not available at all Starbucks unfortunately

[Anonymous Coward]

This news in mind, I checked out two locations I passed by this morning.

Both offer WiFi through T-Mobile.

Re:nearly useless

[Anonymous Coward]

bs. you can.