Comments on: Why AT&T should offer free Wi-Fi http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/ Trusted Insights and Conversations on the Next Wave of Technology Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:37:25 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: T-Mobile Sues Starbucks Over Free Wifi - GigaOM http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-882597 T-Mobile Sues Starbucks Over Free Wifi - GigaOM Sat, 07 Jun 2008 16:25:26 +0000 http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-882597 <p>[...] locations is putting the hurt on T-Mobile’s WiFi business, prompted the lawsuit. (Hey Ma Bell, thanks for listening to our suggestion about free Wifi. ) At the time of the original WiFi announcement all three parties – Starbucks, T-Mobile and [...]</p> [...] locations is putting the hurt on T-Mobile’s WiFi business, prompted the lawsuit. (Hey Ma Bell, thanks for listening to our suggestion about free Wifi. ) At the time of the original WiFi announcement all three parties – Starbucks, T-Mobile and [...]

]]> By: ShanKri-la » Get Free Wi-Fi if you have AT&T DSL http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-314565 ShanKri-la » Get Free Wi-Fi if you have AT&T DSL Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:07:28 +0000 http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-314565 <p>[...] they might as well make it free to all their DSL subscribers regardless of their subscription tier. GigaOM suggests that AT&T should provide free Wi-Fi to all iPhone customers which might ease the load [...]</p> [...] they might as well make it free to all their DSL subscribers regardless of their subscription tier. GigaOM suggests that AT&T should provide free Wi-Fi to all iPhone customers which might ease the load [...]

]]> By: vinnie mirchandani http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-314528 vinnie mirchandani Fri, 06 Jul 2007 11:48:10 +0000 http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-314528 <p>PS - continue earlier comment --- sorry forgot to mention, I am visiting Boca Raton, FL where I have had severe time out and sluggish download issues starting noon on July 5</p> PS – continue earlier comment — sorry forgot to mention, I am visiting Boca Raton, FL where I have had severe time out and sluggish download issues starting noon on July 5

]]> By: vinnie mirchandani http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-314522 vinnie mirchandani Fri, 06 Jul 2007 11:46:28 +0000 http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-314522 <p>@ Matt: not sure where you are. But on afternoon of July 5 and continuing through now, the AT&T Edge network has been crawling. Forget the unthinkable, I cannot even do the supposed unbreakable - plain old email. Both Apple and ATT talked about how 2G was good enough for Blackberry users who primairly use it for mail. I spoke to someone in Austin yesterday and he reported similar sluggishness.</p> <p>BTW - Om, I agree with packaging WIFI with their mobile plan. I wrote about it Monday on my blog. The timing of the packaging with the DSL plan - 3 days after the iPhone launch shows ATT is either unbelivably fragmented or it showcases ATT's biz model - customers need to get ready to pay it for texting, roaming, wifi, and every other little product it offers as an add-on to the base plan. Basically if you can afford a PDA (iPhone or not), you can afford to pay me 10 10 15X a year in services.</p> @ Matt: not sure where you are. But on afternoon of July 5 and continuing through now, the AT&T Edge network has been crawling. Forget the unthinkable, I cannot even do the supposed unbreakable – plain old email. Both Apple and ATT talked about how 2G was good enough for Blackberry users who primairly use it for mail. I spoke to someone in Austin yesterday and he reported similar sluggishness.

BTW – Om, I agree with packaging WIFI with their mobile plan. I wrote about it Monday on my blog. The timing of the packaging with the DSL plan – 3 days after the iPhone launch shows ATT is either unbelivably fragmented or it showcases ATT’s biz model – customers need to get ready to pay it for texting, roaming, wifi, and every other little product it offers as an add-on to the base plan. Basically if you can afford a PDA (iPhone or not), you can afford to pay me 10 10 15X a year in services.

]]> By: Matthew http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-308172 Matthew Thu, 05 Jul 2007 01:40:28 +0000 http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-308172 <p>EDGE is getting a bad rap. Today I used it for the first time, on my iPhone, after using just WiFi for the first few days. I was expecting it to not work well, based on all the negative hype. However, I checked emails, used Google Maps, and pulled up articles on Nytimes.com.</p> <p>And then, I tried the "unthinkable": I watched videos on YouTube. And it worked fine.</p> <p>And that last one convinced me that all these people don't know what the hell are talking about.</p> <p>Sure, it's slower than WiFi. But the iPhone is fully functional on EDGE. ANyone saying otherwise probably doesn't have an iPhone. There's a lot of armchair commentators who have no real-world experience.</p> <p>But, I'm all for free WiFi. I think it would be a smart move for AT&T.</p> <ul> <li>Matt</li> </ul> EDGE is getting a bad rap. Today I used it for the first time, on my iPhone, after using just WiFi for the first few days. I was expecting it to not work well, based on all the negative hype. However, I checked emails, used Google Maps, and pulled up articles on Nytimes.com.

And then, I tried the “unthinkable”: I watched videos on YouTube. And it worked fine.

And that last one convinced me that all these people don’t know what the hell are talking about.

Sure, it’s slower than WiFi. But the iPhone is fully functional on EDGE. ANyone saying otherwise probably doesn’t have an iPhone. There’s a lot of armchair commentators who have no real-world experience.

But, I’m all for free WiFi. I think it would be a smart move for AT&T.

  • Matt
]]> By: jose http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-308002 jose Thu, 05 Jul 2007 00:37:22 +0000 http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-308002 <p>I don´t say it should be free, but the costs are very high. They could lower them of course... As for the article, that explanation isn´t enough to make the service "free".</p> I don´t say it should be free, but the costs are very high. They could lower them of course… As for the article, that explanation isn´t enough to make the service “free”.

]]> By: » News to Know: AMD benchmarks, iPhone hacking, SAP’s new day | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-306755 » News to Know: AMD benchmarks, iPhone hacking, SAP’s new day | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com Wed, 04 Jul 2007 17:25:08 +0000 http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-306755 <p>[...] GigaOm: Why AT&T should offer free Wi-Fi [...]</p> [...] GigaOm: Why AT&T should offer free Wi-Fi [...]

]]> By: Jake Taylor http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-304332 Jake Taylor Wed, 04 Jul 2007 05:20:48 +0000 http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-304332 <p>I agree, EDGE has been underpefroming and with all the activation delays with the iphone it would be a great idea for at&t to offer this value add free of charge.</p> I agree, EDGE has been underpefroming and with all the activation delays with the iphone it would be a great idea for at&t to offer this value add free of charge.

]]> By: Charbax http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-304311 Charbax Wed, 04 Jul 2007 05:13:08 +0000 http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-304311 <p>People who bought the iPhone are so full of cash that AT&T has no need to give those people free WiFi access. Since they are the kind of people that are able to pay for more products and services.</p> <p>If AT&T needs to do something concerning WiFi, it's to do a roaming deal with FON so that Foneros can access AT&T hotspots for a special per-GB fee and vice-versa.</p> People who bought the iPhone are so full of cash that AT&T has no need to give those people free WiFi access. Since they are the kind of people that are able to pay for more products and services.

If AT&T needs to do something concerning WiFi, it’s to do a roaming deal with FON so that Foneros can access AT&T hotspots for a special per-GB fee and vice-versa.

]]> By: Pajamas Media http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-304279 Pajamas Media Wed, 04 Jul 2007 05:00:08 +0000 http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-304279 <p><strong>Making Mobile Computing Easier:</strong></p> <p>GigaOm argues AT&T should offer free wi-fi, especially to IPhone customers to decongest its EDGE network....</p> Making Mobile Computing Easier:

GigaOm argues AT&T should offer free wi-fi, especially to IPhone customers to decongest its EDGE network….

]]> By: Victor Blake http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-303796 Victor Blake Wed, 04 Jul 2007 02:07:02 +0000 http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-303796 <p>Why would this be an advantage over cable ? TWC and Bright House Networks (and possibly others) offer free WiFi to ALL of their residential broadband customers (no matter what tier they are on -- even lite tier) at their local hot-spots (airports, malls, public spots, etc.).</p> <p>Some cable operators even have MOBILE wifi deployed that allows seemsless roaming between hotspots without dropping connections ...</p> Why would this be an advantage over cable ? TWC and Bright House Networks (and possibly others) offer free WiFi to ALL of their residential broadband customers (no matter what tier they are on — even lite tier) at their local hot-spots (airports, malls, public spots, etc.).

Some cable operators even have MOBILE wifi deployed that allows seemsless roaming between hotspots without dropping connections …

]]> By: ayush http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-303784 ayush Wed, 04 Jul 2007 02:04:54 +0000 http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-303784 <p>Starbucks seems offers just T-Mobile not At&T</p> <p>And you're right ps, their Wi-Fi spots are pretty sadly scattered http://attwifi.know-where.com/attwifi/cgi/index?design=default</p> Starbucks seems offers just T-Mobile not At&T

And you’re right ps, their Wi-Fi spots are pretty sadly scattered http://attwifi.know-where.com/attwifi/cgi/index?design=default

]]> By: ps http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-302855 ps Tue, 03 Jul 2007 21:38:35 +0000 http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-302855 <p>Om,</p> <p>What difference does it make? Have you come across any AT&T Wi-Fi spot? Most of the cafes (non-Starbucks) now offer free Wi-Fi.</p> Om,

What difference does it make? Have you come across any AT&T Wi-Fi spot? Most of the cafes (non-Starbucks) now offer free Wi-Fi.

]]> By: steve http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-302810 steve Tue, 03 Jul 2007 21:23:19 +0000 http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-302810 <p>ok you got half the download. THE OTHER HALF..why not offer free pda or iphone wifiable machine...THE $ is in the service,the monthly service. i dont see gasoline co.s giving away cars THEY ARE BIG MONEY and youd need your gasco everywhere or youd limit travel GOWEVER with internet (line or wifi) its easy to be everywhere...like wifi falling from the sky ..soon we will see free devices loyalthough but everywhere....</p> ok you got half the download. THE OTHER HALF..why not offer free pda or iphone wifiable machine…THE $ is in the service,the monthly service. i dont see gasoline co.s giving away cars THEY ARE BIG MONEY and youd need your gasco everywhere or youd limit travel GOWEVER with internet (line or wifi) its easy to be everywhere…like wifi falling from the sky ..soon we will see free devices loyalthough but everywhere….

]]> By: Dave http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-302729 Dave Tue, 03 Jul 2007 21:02:21 +0000 http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-302729 <p>you should definitely buy an iphone, even if you dont need it or dont wanna buy it. That way you might probably stop writing one iphone post after another.</p> you should definitely buy an iphone, even if you dont need it or dont wanna buy it. That way you might probably stop writing one iphone post after another.

]]> By: Curtis http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-302525 Curtis Tue, 03 Jul 2007 20:00:56 +0000 http://gigaom.com/2007/07/03/why-att-should-offer-free-wi-fi/#comment-302525 <p>Free WiFi would do wonders for AT&T as a brand. Contrary to what their management is thinking, Cingular doesn't embody inept lack of innovation in the way AT&T does. AT&T also lacks "value" as a perceived attribute. By giving away WiFi access, AT&T could have taken a leadership position in free WiFi, built on the iPhone buzz, AND positioned their future wireless phones for dual usage. Nice value offering, not AT&T, which by the way embodies my grandmother's rotary phone.</p> Free WiFi would do wonders for AT&T as a brand. Contrary to what their management is thinking, Cingular doesn’t embody inept lack of innovation in the way AT&T does. AT&T also lacks “value” as a perceived attribute. By giving away WiFi access, AT&T could have taken a leadership position in free WiFi, built on the iPhone buzz, AND positioned their future wireless phones for dual usage. Nice value offering, not AT&T, which by the way embodies my grandmother’s rotary phone.

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