Yesterday afternoon, iPhone owners should have received a text message from AT&T alerting them to their new access to AT&T’s network of Wi-Fi hotspot. If this sounds familiar, it’s because some iPhone owners caught a glimpse back of the access in early May before it was quickly clamped shut again.

The text message included a link to an AT&T Web site with instructions on how to use the new feature. Any time an iPhone connects to one of AT&T’s hotspots, such as the ones in Starbucks locations across the county, it will display a special login screen that asks for their mobile phone number.

Next the iPhone user enters the telephone number associated with his or her account. AT&T then sends a free text message to the user with a link that will grant access to that Wi-Fi hotspot for the next 24 hours.

AT&T Wi-Fi received a major boost back in February when Starbucks announced that it would be dropping T-Mobile in favor of AT&T to provide service in their ever-present chain of coffee shops. However, there’s a major difference in how T-Mobile and AT&T provide service to their mobile customers.

T-Mobile customers all receive access to the company’s Wi-Fi access with their account. Customers can use their mobile phone number and pin to log into Wi-Fi locations from any device, including a laptop. T-Mobile’s Wi-Fi service is fairly expensive, and the fact that it gives away such unfettered access to its mobile customers is likely the reason why.

AT&T on the other hand, doesn’t give away its Wi-Fi service to the vast majority of its mobile phone customers. In fact, the iPhone access is a privilege that is gaining a lot of attention as an advantage to being an iPhone owner. However the offer only extends to iPhones and not to any device that the subscriber owns.

This approach should help AT&T to save on bandwidth costs associated with running its Wi-Fi network. Especially since the company prohibits tethering the iPhone to a laptop to share the device’s Internet connection. There’s no word on whether entering the URL that AT&T send into a laptop’s browser could result in full laptop access.

Luckily, the iPhone’s mobile version of Safari provides a relatively decent browsing experience. While its applications are not likely to help get much real work done, you will still be able to check Blorge from virtually any Starbucks or Barnes & Noble, and that’s what you really want. Right?

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Entry was posted on Thursday, October 30th, 2008 at 8:52 am under Apple, Cell phones, Internet.

Read more entries by Dave Jeyes.
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