2 Kas 2008

AT&T Hotspots Now Free for iPhone Owners, requires Cell Connection

AT&T Hotspots Now Free for iPhone Owners

After months of speculation and rumors, iPhone owners can now use the Wi-Fi available at their local AT&T Hotspot at no additional charge. We thought it was ridiculous that this didn't come pre-packaged with the iPhone considering that most iPhone owners are using the web more than their minutes.

Rafe Needleman on his experience with AT&T’s newly offered free WiFi for iPhone users:

“[...] the images I had of just sauntering in to a Starbucks, selecting the local Wi-Fi network and jumping on the Internet were busted when I read these ridiculous instructions for getting access:

  • Activate Wi-Fi from the settings icon on your iPhone.
  • Select “attwifi” from the list of available networks.
  • Enter your 10-digit mobile number and check the box to agree to the Acceptable Use Policy. Tap ‘continue.’
  • You will receive a text message from AT&T with a secure link to the AT&T Wi-Fi hot spot. You will not be charged for the text message.
  • The SMS link will only be valid for 24 hours at the location it was requested. Another request must be submitted when using another hot spot location.
  • Open the text message and tap on the link for 24-hour access to the AT&T Wi-Fi hot spot.

“To get on Wi-Fi, I need to tell you my phone number and then authorize over SMS? That’s just goofy. I get that the method that I think should work to authorize an iPhone on the network–a check of the phone’s MAC address by the AT&T Wi-Fi authorization system–might be more hackable than this closed-loop authorization system that checks to see if you’re an AT&T iPhone subscriber in good standing via your phone number. But so what? It’s not like the value of the network connection that someone would be appropriating if they hacked this system is that high to begin with.”

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