I had a chance to try a couple of local spots that are listed on AT&T’s WiFi locations page to see how this new free WiFi for iPhone concept is coming along.
At my local Starbucks everything was easy and seamless. The ‘attwifi’ network showed up right away and the iPhone joined without a hitch. As soon as I opened Safari I got the screen shown above, with its bold text announcing the free access for iPhone users, prompting just for my iPhone’s phone number. Once I entered that and gave it a bit to refresh the page, I got confirmation that I was good to go, and full access. Very nice – and this was at a long-established Starbucks, not a new one at all. I mention this because I’d heard some reports that only new Starbucks locations already had AT&T instead of T-Mobile WiFi.
The result at Barnes and Noble was quite different I’m afraid …
As soon as I fired up Safari at B&N, I was presented with this set of choices:
None of these mention ‘free for iPhone’ and none seemed real promising. I tried the ‘Use Membership’ and ‘Use Coupon’ choices just in case there was an iPhone option hiding beneath those, but no such luck. I asked a staffer if he had any idea how the free AT&T WiFi might be accessed via an iPhone, but he really didn’t have any idea. He gave me a standard AT&T leaflet describing their WiFi network, which had no mention of the iPhone in it.
It seems the free WiFi for iPhone users is probably being rolled out in stages around their various locations. Anyone else had any luck at a Barnes and Noble site yet? Or tried out McDonalds or Dennys or any of the various other AT&T hotspot locations?
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