If you’re a nomadic worker, one of the modern marvels of today’s technology is being able to hop on a wi-fi hotspot and get some work done. This is why having a T-Mobile hotspot account has been so great for coffee-house workers. Starbucks are virtually everywhere, especially in the United States. Since 2001, T-Mobile has been the hotspot provider for Starbucks.
Not any more, as Glen Flieshman has pointed out. T-Mobile has been dropped by Starbucks in favor of AT&T as their wi-fi provider. So now in addition to McDonalds, AT&T subscribers can add thousands of Starbucks to the number of locations they can get online and work.
The good news is that just for having a Starbucks card, you get 2 free hours of wi-fi a day. Presumably this means that for just by making a purchase with your Starbucks card, you get 2 free hours of net access.
Additionally, AT&T lowered the price to $4 a day for a two hours of access, compared to T-Mobile’s $6-10 per hour charge. AT&T is going to charge $20/month for unlimited access to wi-fi, the same as T-Mobile’s rate. If you have AT&T DSL, you receive wi-fi access for free as a part of your monthly DSL rate.
For more info, check out AT&T’s press release.
Update: As Kevin pointed out in the comments, T-Mobile wi-fi customers will still be able to get online in Starbucks, under an agreement between AT&T and T-Mobile. The details can be found in the press release mentioned above.
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