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AT&T Wireless and Starbuck’s “Free” WiFi Isn’t Quite What It Seems

  

by Gary Rea  (c) copyright 2010  All Rights Reserved

Being the owner of a new WiFi-enabled laptop (a netbook, to be exact), I’ve been getting a first-hand education in obtaining free wireless connections wherever I go. Among the lessons I’ve learned is that Starbuck’s supposedly “free” wireless access, provided by AT&T Wireless, is anything but.

First, I looked up Starbuck’s online and read about their “free” WiFi. It sounded great, but there was much information left out, as I discovered when I asked a Starbuck’s employee about it later. He told me I’d have to pay $5 for a card that had the access code printed on it and then I’d be able to access Starbuck’s “free” WiFi at any Starbuck’s location – for two hours at a time, that is. Underwhelmed by this offer, I decided it wasn’t worth it, especially since these cards need to be “renewed” after so many uses – at an additional $5.

This is only the tip of an ugly WiFi iceberg, though. As I discovered on New Year’s Day, while having breakfast at a Starbuck’s, if you try to connect to a wireless router – even someone else’s – at some point, you’ll get a Starbuck’s/AT&T WiFi login page popping up on your browser,