AT&T opening up free WiFi for Windows Mobile
We've been peppering carriers with questions regarding the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5 on Oct. 6, and most are pretty mum at this point. But AT&T did drop one little nugget in regards to WiFi, which we've been waiting to hear about for some time now. And it goes a long way toward answering a question we tackled in this week's podcast.
So, here's the deal. We're leaving it in AT&T-speak. Starting Sept. 14:
- AT&T will provide most users access to nearly 20,000 AT&T Hot Spots across the US, including Starbucks.
- Beginning this month, customers with Wi-Fi-enabled Windows Mobile smartphones and unlimited and other qualifying data plans will receive unlimited access to thousands of U.S. AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots nationwide.
- Eligible Windows Mobile customers can access AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots at over 20,000 nationwide locations – the majority of customers will be eligible as most have a qualifying data plan.
- At no additional cost, AT&T customers with unlimited personal and enterprise rate plans on Wi-Fi enabled Windows Mobile smartphones can enjoy automatic, fast and secure access to the Internet at AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots.
- AT&T Wi-Fi will be easy to use on Windows Phones because of auto-authentication – if you have Wi-Fi on, you’ll automatically connect
- The service will launch on 9/14 with Samsung smartphones with other devices to follow in the coming weeks, and all 6.5 devices will be supported.
So, while we still don't know what AT&T has up its sleeve in terms of Windows Mobile 6.5 and current or future devices, we now know it's opening up WiFi to the masses. Hit up this link for a map of AT&T's free WiFi locations.
Email this pageComments
There are 10 comments. Sign in to comment
Tim Ferrill says:
This is a brilliant move by AT&T because it looks like they are being a generous, customer service oriented company. The fact is, if they can get a lot of people off of their cellular backbone and onto WiFi this will help alleviate some of the bottlenecks that they've had issues with.
Why would I need Wifi if I have an unlimited data plan? It's not like At&t is putting Wifi hotspots in rural areas where they don't have 3G coverage. Now...give us free wifi on the airlines that are starting to have it. Now that would be something.
xd1936 says:
Speed.
Cascade#IM says:
iPhone users can do this NOW and have been able to for awhile. It's the WM folks that have had to wait.
It's not that WM did not have this capability (I go to Barnes and Noble and just hook up to their free wifi) but AT&T's crazy policy of allowing only iPhone users to hookup. Who cared? With Panera bread, Starbucks and even the car service guys providing free wifi, we WM guys could anyway hookup. So iPhone user, come down from that selfmade lofty tower. BTW, congratulations on finally getting Cut-and-Paste
Berrydale says:
This sounds like great news. Does anybody know if Verizon will finally open up their phones to WiFi? They have a history of not allowing it on a lot of the devices they have carried in the past. Maybe, with AT&T taking this approach, and I think TMobile is fairly open also, Verizon will finally recognize that the will need to also provide WiFi devices to their customers who want or need it.
