AT&T has got plenty of criticism lately from iPhone sites and users “ for everything from iPhone 3GS activation nightmares to their lagging behind other carriers in making MMS and tethering available on iPhone OS 3.0.  They ‘re not all about frustrating iPhone users though.

Here ‘s one good thing they have done for iPhone users running OS 3.0 “ they ‘ve made it much easier to access their WiFi networks, with no need to login.  They ‘ve turned on auto-authentication for iPhone 3.0 users “ meaning you just join the ‘attwifi ‘ network when it pops up, and you ‘re instantly connected.

Previously, you would join the AT&T network but you ‘d quickly notice that nothing on the iPhone had connectivity until you eventually got presented with a login page if you opened Safari “ and then you had to login using your AT&T Wireless account credentials.

I don ‘t know about you all, but I almost never have an occasion to use those AT&T account credentials “ as we tend to deal with AT&T by phone whenever we have an issue “ so I also do not remember them, and I don ‘t think I ‘ve ever even entered them into a password manager app as they are so rarely used (my bad).

US iPhone users have access to over 20,000 AT&T WiFi hotspots for free “ and can find these at Starbucks, McDonalds, Barnes & Noble, and airports around the country.  There ‘s a full outline of how to use AT&T WiFi via the iPhone, and links to a map of all their US hotspots, at AT&T ‘s page, HERE.

I ‘m very happy to see this change.  I gave it a go at a local Starbucks recently and it worked just as advertised “ I was up and running on their WiFi network in seconds.

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