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AT&T’s Wi-Fi for Apple iPhone coming sooner or later

Friday, May 9, 2008 · 4:57 pm · 23 Comments

Regarding AT&T and its free Wi-Fi for iPhone users, Saul Hansell reports for The New York Times, “I was able to reach Fletcher Cook, an AT&T spokesman… The posting of the offer of free Wi-Fi on the company’s site was ‘a human error,’ he said. But he added that the company has long planned to offer free Wi-Fi to customers with iPhones and other phones that have Wi-Fi capability.”

“‘Our Wi-Fi network is a great way of differentiating the AT&T network and giving customers another reason to choose us over a competitor,’ he said. As for details and timing, Mr. Fletcher was mum,” Hansell reports. “So the only secret AT&T really has is the date when it will stop teasing its iPhone customers.”

Full article here.

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23 Comments

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Hentercenter

Friday, May 9, 2008 - 5:01 pm · Reply

hopefully they release soon or right after the new iPhone comes out. then i can get my new iPhone with free wifi whenever i want! =D
Steve516

Friday, May 9, 2008 - 5:12 pm · Reply

The only thing worse than the AT&T;3G coverage is their WiFi coverage…. Unless you live at McDonalds or Starbucks.

I think they need to expand their 3G coverage… That would kill two birds with one stone.
Jim - TIV

Friday, May 9, 2008 - 5:22 pm · Reply

ATnT wifi is still a rumor here in Republicanville CA. (south orange county)

Supposedly it’s coming in the fall to Starbucks. We’ll see.
Free-America.com

Friday, May 9, 2008 - 5:30 pm · Reply

AT&T;should have offered this, oh, like last June when the iPhone came out.
Nic

Friday, May 9, 2008 - 5:30 pm · Reply

How long before all public places wise up and offer free WiFi just to differentiate themselves? If I have a choice between two food/coffee joints near each other and one offers free WiFi, that’s where I’ll go. If one charges for WiFi and the other has no WiFi, I’ll choose the place with none just to punish the business that wants to charge for WiFi.

Remember when motel marquees said “Free HBO” or “Free Cable TV”? Now it’s just assumed.
Thomas

Friday, May 9, 2008 - 5:35 pm · Reply

Free is good.

Everybody wants free. Nobody wants to pay anymore.
Gone Nuts

Friday, May 9, 2008 - 5:40 pm · Reply

Is it too hard to believe that AT&T;is planning a launch around the time of the Developer’s Conference in June? That would be my first assumption. They will want some new feature to encourage sales of their new iPhone 2.0 launch, just as it’s rumoured that Apple will be revamping .Mac for the launch as well.
Macintosh

Friday, May 9, 2008 - 5:42 pm · Reply

Knobs.
Eric

Friday, May 9, 2008 - 5:45 pm · Reply

For those who keep spouting off that AT&T;needs to blanket the US with 3G like Europe, they need a little dose of reality.

Here are some facts…

US Population: Approximately 304 million
US Total area: 3.8 million square miles
US Population Density: 80 per square mile

EU Population: Approximately 498 million
EU total area: 1.67 million square miles
EU Population Density: 289 per square mile

Average cost of a cellular tower is between $75,000 to $200,000
Average coverage per cell tower is between 5-30sq/mi

Now, let’s look at those numbers and do a little rough math…

Therefore, to cover the entire US with 3G, AT&T;would need as few as ~126,000 cell towers and as many as ~1,100,000 cell towers. Let’s for sake of argument, grab the median number, which is ~ 500,000 cell towers, and calculate the cost using the median cost of ~ $145,000, which equates to $72.5 billion investment.

AT&T;’s entire market capitalization is about 225 billion, divided up amongst a wide variety of telecommunications businesses, of which the wireless sector may be at most about 25% of the whole, or a worth of about 56 billion, I really don;t see them pleasing every tom dick and harry living in the boonies… They are, logically enough, focused on CITY dwellers, like the vast majority of big business.

Just saying.
As AT&T;is a publicly traded company with a net worth of Yeah, that’s gonna happen!
shen

Friday, May 9, 2008 - 5:48 pm · Reply

dead on Eric, well said.

on the other hand, with the price per meg of text messaging that they have, they should be able to afford all those towers in no time.
DizzyD

Friday, May 9, 2008 - 6:54 pm · Reply

Frigtards.
Peter

Friday, May 9, 2008 - 7:09 pm · Reply

Eric, that analysis made perfect sense. You must be new here.

Obviously, AT&T should cover the entire US with 3G in the same way that Apple should have Apple Stores in <insert name of podunk town here>. Why? Because I want it, dammit!

C’mon, Eric! Get with the program here!
TheConfuzed1

Friday, May 9, 2008 - 7:22 pm · Reply

@Peter–

lol That’s funny. He uses reason and logic, so he must be new here!
not fooled

Friday, May 9, 2008 - 7:48 pm · Reply

Typical AT&T;.

Free WiMAX is the future, Ma Bell. Get with it or die (again).
Escaport

Friday, May 9, 2008 - 7:48 pm · Reply

I just really don’t get all these people yelling for 3G. It’s faster, but it isn’t close to a good broadband WiFi. With normal network traffic, I would guess that the total time spent DLing things on EDGE vs. 3G in real world conditions isn’t that huge a gap.

I’ve had my iPhone on EDGE load MDN at about the same speed that my 6.0Mbs DSL did on several occations just due to server load and net traffic.

3G is overrated.
lurker

Friday, May 9, 2008 - 8:40 pm · Reply

Market capitalization is calculated by multiplying the number of shares outstanding by the price per share the most recent buyer was willing to pay. Has nothing to do with investment in capital assets. In addition, AT&T;doesn’t own all the cell towers they currently use, they just lease access, so the capital for many towers came from some where else. Plus, the broader coverage areas per tower will come in the sparsely populated areas with few obstructions to line of sight.

If this board is so impressed by multiplication and division, what would it do if they were used to draw a valid conclusion?

Of course, we might think about communications infrastructure being a public good, like roads, and accessible to all, rather than a private good, only available to those who can pay, where a private company thinks it might be profitable.
TowerTone

Friday, May 9, 2008 - 9:55 pm · Reply

You had me until “only available to those who can pay,”

These people will pay whether it is private and funded for profit or they are the ones stuck with the tax burden to pay for those who don’t carry their weight.

Roads are for commerce and national security. WiMax, when it is rolled out, will be supported by some municipalities, until it is run down from city council squabbles or subbed out to the likes of Microsoft.
The Brown Buffalo

Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 12:18 am · Reply

No need to blanket the entire U.S. i’d just like to see coverage along major interstates for traffic and roadside service info and THEN build out into the commercial districts and major thoroughfares. Shirley that won’t cost their entire warchest.
iLuvMyMacs

Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 12:26 am · Reply

Yes; As soon as I read in Eric’s post: “Here are some facts…”

I said to myself- This guy don’t get it.

Eric- A few tips to “get along” in here…
1. Figure out a political angle on anything posted.
2. Facts don’t work here, the same with reason, logic & proof
3. If a picture is posted of a Macbook on fire- just say Photoshop
4. If a picture is posted of a Dell on fire- it’s genuine
5. There are no bugs in OSX
6. Try to be the first poster on a new topic – don’t just try- make it happen
7. Praise ZuneTang- encourage him & defend him
8. Know who MonkeyBoy is- (developers, developers, developers)

This is your starter kit.
The Other Steve

Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 2:28 am · Reply

@Eric

3.7 million square miles in the US is counting the deserts, great planes, and Alaska. The vast majority of which is not covered and is not going to be covered anytime soon. (nor should it be)

The comparison is Apple(s) and oranges.