A while back I wrote about Starbucks’ Rewards program. Any registered member of the program receives “up to two hours of free AT&T Wi-Fi service, everyday.” I was previously under the impression that this meant you needed to purchase something to get wi-fi access, however it appears (upon closer inspection of the terms and in real-world trials) that no purchase is necessary.
This makes things more convenient for road warriors. I would suspect that this trick works at any AT&T Hotspot. Of course anyone with an iPhone or other qualifying AT&T plan automatically gets hot-spot access and you can even enable automatic login with iPhone OS 3.0:
Anyways, if anyone has confirmed that with Starbucks Rewards, you can use AT&T Wi-Fi at any AT&T hotspot, be sure to share in the comments.
Check out more about Starbucks Rewards at http://starbucks.com/cardrewards.
Coincidentally, I tested this today.
I was in desperate need of a restroom when I arrived at Central Park West, so I launched the AroundMe app on my iPhone and found three Starbuckses within emergency walking distance. I entered one and there was a line for the restroom.
I took a seat, having not purchased anything so far, and tried the wireless. It logged in to ‘attwifi’ just fine and I was able to use Safari. (Curiously, though, I tried the Starbucks feature in the iTunes app and it couldn’t tell me the current song that was playing.)
Out of moral imperative for using the Starbucks restroom, I purchased an iced black coffee, which I wasn’t even in the mood to drink.
The Starbucks in Ithaca never had the iTunes thing working. It is a cool feature though. I should try it out in more locations.
You would buy something out of “moral imperative” and not drink it. Even if you’re not a coffee guy, I’m sure there’s something there suitable to your tastes.
Is there anything cheaper to buy there (that’s a drink, and not a cookie or a bottle of water from a coffee shop)? I wouldn’t know. I hate Starbucks; I just appreciate their restroom locations.