AT&T retracts free Wi-Fi offer for iPhone

Mobility

By Humphrey Cheung

Friday, July 18, 2008 15:46

Los Angeles (CA) – AT&T has retracted its offer of free wireless Internet access for iPhone users. According to company officials, the offer was mistakenly put up on the AT&T website earlier today, but it was quickly removed after just a few hours. This is the second time AT&T has jumped the gun on the free wireless announcement. The original text of the website read, “We are proud to offer iPhone customers free access to the nation’s largest Wi-Fi hotspot network with more than 17,000 hotspots.” AT&T hotspots typically located at Starbucks coffee shops, many airports and bookstores. iPhone users at such hotspots would presumably be able to check their emails, surf the web and possibly use VoIP clients at a much higher speed than AT&T 3G network. In addition, battery life could also be increased – early iPhone reviewers claim 3G usage severely impacts battery life. Back in April, AT&T said free wireless would eventually be available to iPhone users, but so far it hasn't commented on specific dates. It’s obvious that something will happen soon since a webpage has already been created. Back in May, AT&T also mistakenly popped up an announcement of free wireless access. Opening up wireless access to iPhone units would relieve AT&T cellular networks because traffic would be offloaded through traditional landlines installed at the wireless hotspots. However, revenue from voice and text messaging might be adversely affected if people use VoIP apps to tunnel traffic past AT&T’s prying eyes. Recently, SIPGATE announced that its application would allow VoIP access through jailbroken iPhones. Some market research analysts claim the 3G iPhone sold over three million units since its Friday launch. BY-TGDAILY