No one likes being that person in the relationship that gets the boot for a newer, sexier lover; T-mobile knows that pain, because AT&T is the new stag in town, at least for Starbucks. Starbucks is dropping long-time HotSpot provider T-Mobile in favor of AT&T.

Actually, the situation is probably more akin to dirty politics; Apple probably just pointed out that it was giving Starbucks a good back scratch, and hinted that AT&T’s back is a bit itchy as well. Or maybe not.

Either way, the old T-Mobile HotSpot setup is out; that can only be good news for customers who previously had to pay for HotSpots. Under the new setup with AT&T, users get 2 free hours of WiFi service. Anything above and beyond that is a $3.99 fee for 2 more hours.

What’s the catch, you may be asking? You have to be Starbucks card holder to get your 2 free hours; if you aren’t, you’re looking at paying $19.99 for monthly access.

The recent rumors about an iPhone and iPod Touch-specific ordering program that would work at places like Starbucks might have something to do with the deal; how quickly we will see that implemented is still up in the air.

Behind the scenes, AT&T is getting substantially more involved with Starbucks beyond the WiFi aspect; apparently Starbuck’s internal operations will now be powered by AT&T.

In case you missed it, the most exciting part about all of this is 2 hours of free WiFi at Starbucks; however, that could mean your local Starbucks will be filled with more pretentious geeks, nerds, and anyone else who wants to look cool sipping a latte and browsing the internet on their portable devices. Better show up when doors open.

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Entry was posted on Monday, February 11th, 2008 at 12:06 pm under Apple, Wi-Fi.

Read more entries by Triston McIntyre.
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