More deets on the AT&T WiFi deal with Starbucks
Yesterday’s announcement of AT&T being chosen to provide WiFi for Starbucks left plenty of questions in people’s minds and Glenn Fleishmann has a follow up with some of the answers. His full summary is over at Wi-FI Networking News, but some of the key points that our readers asked about are:
- The Starbucks Card that provides you two free hours of daily WiFi is not the Starbucks Visa card. It’s the refillable Starbucks store card. Just use the card once in a given month and you’re good to go.
- WiFi access won’t necessarily be limited to a single device, but I’m sure AT&T and Starbucks will be monitoring customer usage. For the moment as an example, you’ll be able to connect your iPhone and your notebook if you have a Starbucks Card or have a qualifying AT&T plan.
- T-Mobile Hotspot and Hotspot@Home customers should still have WiFi access for at least the next five years at Starbucks, based on the deal.
All in all, I think it’s a win-win for the customers of all parties involved. As far as the loser in the deal, I’d vote for the T-Mobile USA corporation in terms of lost revenue and news that isn’t helping a company that still doesn’t have a 3G network out yet. Oh wait, that’s coming by this summer. While we wait for it, I’d like to personally ask the T-Mobile Hotspot@Home customers to stay out of the Starbucks in Quakertown, Lansdale and King of Prussia. I really don’t want to hear your personal VoIP conversations. 
