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AT&T gives FREE Wi-Fi to Southern California

businessshrink.biz — Due to California Wildfires AT&T has stated it will be offering Free T-Mobile Hot Spot Wi-Fi services to San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Orange and Ventura counties. There will be about 600 locations to get AT&T hot spot wi-fi at no charge. The offering began on October 27th, 2007 and will last a few weeks.

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  • Dragonskies, on 11/04/2007, -3/+85I don't think AT&T would've started this if it wasn't for all the bad PR they've received over the $300 satellite receiver incident.
    • Jerky1312, on 10/29/2007, -1/+21Here is what he is referring to...
      http://consumerist.com/consumer/videos/att-asks-ca ...
    • sockpuppets, on 10/29/2007, -1/+19HotSpot for your Hotspot, to get us out of our hotspot.
    • KibibyteBrain, on 10/29/2007, -2/+4And is AT&T using a competition's service??? If I believed in the bible, I'd say this sounds like a direct temptation of Satan.
      • missingnoh4x, on 10/29/2007, -1/+1Wi-Fi technology doesn't belong to any company. I'm not sure where the article author gets the idea that this is T-Mobile's service.
    • bingobongony, on 10/29/2007, -8/+1They go ZERO bad publicity you ***** idiot. 99.999999999% of the country does not give a ***** about Consumerist. And there was nothing wrong with what they did in that story anyway.
      • tempuser, on 10/29/2007, -0/+6Uh, AT&T backpedaled on the fees ...
        http://consumerist.com/consumer/resolutions/att-wo ...

        So they either wanted to avoid bad press or really did have a "disaster policy" in place thinking that it would be ***** up to charge people for not thinking about cable equipment when their house is burning....either way, you are wrong
    • XStatic, on 10/29/2007, -0/+3Of course they owe the payment for their satellite receiver, cell phone, car, TiVo, and anything else that hadn't been fully paid for including these type of items given free as part of a service contract.

  • freakon, on 10/29/2007, -10/+1No love for miami? Pshaw...
    • scallon, on 10/29/2007, -2/+14I got some kerosene and a zippo if you want to roll the dice...
  • ZaNkY, on 11/04/2007, -2/+40Smart move from AT&T's part..... probably the smartest thing they've done in years, though we all know their motives....
    • JoshuaGross, on 10/29/2007, -5/+7Business? Yeah, AT&T's an evil corporation, set apart from the rest because they like business.
      Seriously, I mean, obviously it's a PR stunt. But that doesn't mean it's bad. I hate AT&T, I'd never give them a cent, but free WI-FI still isn't bad...
      • antdude, on 10/29/2007, -2/+2Would use its free WiFi?
      • Mizzike, on 10/29/2007, -0/+2It's not that they like business, JoshuaGross, it's that the company just sucks ass (as evidenced by charging a woman $300 for the satellite receiver she failed to snag while her house burst into flames) and this is its way of making itself look better. We're all willing to bet AT&T's motive is more PR-related than humanity-related.
    • jmeskimen, on 10/29/2007, -2/+1The free Wi-Fi is a great gesture. I would do the same thing if I were AT&T. Not only are you being generous, but you may also get some people hooked on having Wi-Fi everywhere. Thus, more paying customers.
    • OBKenobi, on 11/04/2007, -4/+3AIDS is also free. I have a hard time choosing between that and anything offered by NSAT&T.
    • nakani, on 10/29/2007, -0/+1Free wiretapping for all!! Ho ho ho
  • sockpuppets, on 11/04/2007, -3/+103This is just a ploy to eavesdrop on the terrorists starting the fires. I saw it on Fox news.
    • wiredclimber, on 10/29/2007, -2/+18Then it must be true
    • cadmstr, on 10/29/2007, -10/+1I know where this is going! It was the Bush administration that started the fires. I saw it on MoveOn.org.
      • CCoe, on 10/29/2007, -0/+1Your sarcasm is misplaced, and idiotic.
  • zan012, on 11/04/2007, -2/+22there you go, you have your porn back.
  • alabamasucks, on 10/30/2007, -2/+17i'm out here in San Bern. county and honestly right now that's a great idea so a lot of us can send e-mails to our loved ones, help us find out how the fires are going and even going on line to check digg.
  • evan242, on 10/29/2007, -6/+9this is like the first cool thing ATT has ever done
    • Livewire, on 10/29/2007, -1/+13you mustn't chug the koolaid so fast.
  • cyclonesworld, on 11/04/2007, -2/+70I just wanna make sure I understand this. AT&T, who is in competition with T-Mobile, is giving South California free T-Mobile hotspot access? Weird, I think whoever wrote this article was confused.
    • taro, on 10/29/2007, -0/+7I was searching on Google to find out when AT&T bought T-Mobile
    • ZiGz, on 10/29/2007, -4/+1I'm betting they've got the same big investors at the top of each company. I'm sure this "competition" is mutually beneficial
    • missingnoh4x, on 10/29/2007, -2/+7They're just Wi-Fi hotspots. It has nothing to do with T-Mobile.
  • Terrk, on 10/29/2007, -1/+17If only I could get a pringles can to span 1200 miles......
  • Msoltanian, on 10/30/2007, -3/+31The 3 families who saved their laptops will take advantage of this offer.
    • airforceteacher, on 10/29/2007, -0/+6I don't get this comment. Most laptop owners I know would grab there laptop right after their wife and kids and just before the dog.
      • MaxPayne3476, on 10/29/2007, -1/+7the dog would've had nothing to worry about, along with my Macbook Pro. As for the wife and kids... well, they're expendable
      • missingnoh4x, on 10/29/2007, -1/+1Laptop, dog, flee. The family can fend for themselves.
    • alphaterminus, on 11/05/2007, -3/+2You're getting your cities confused. In New Orleans, people grabbed their crack-pipes and a rock to loot stores. In California, they actually worked for what they have and probably did grab their valuables that were portable.
    • kevinwiz, on 10/29/2007, -0/+1That would be the first thing I'd grab. The dog would run away and save himself and the family would walk out on its own but the laptop with years of memories on it would sit on the table and burn if not grabbed first.
  • Chaulis, on 10/30/2007, -1/+47So AT&T is paying for t-mobile hot spots? Did I read that wrong?
  • DiggzDE, on 10/29/2007, -7/+2I was at Ontario Airport and didn't get any free ***** internet. *****!! :(
  • Subterfug, on 10/29/2007, -1/+11What trickery and treachery is this?
  • drstrangeluv, on 10/29/2007, -2/+16So this makes Southern California even more of a literal Hot Spot.
  • monger68, on 10/29/2007, -1/+32AT&T != T-Mobile
  • rollerxpig, on 10/29/2007, -3/+6Hrm..I went to Starbucks in Los Angeles with my MacBook Pro and it just automatically connected without the T-Mobile log in. I was wondering what was up. Oh well, I was about to cancel my T-Mobile Hot-Spot Access Subscription...Bugger. =[
    • mike818, on 10/29/2007, -1/+23Oh yeah.. the Starbucks in Los Angeles. I think I know where that is!
      • strictnein, on 10/29/2007, -1/+6It's the one on the street, with the doors. They serve coffee. Hopefully that narrowed it down some more.
    • jschuur, on 10/29/2007, -1/+1Same thing happened to me at both Borders and Starbucks. I have both TMobile and AT&T's wifi plan, but I was wondering why, for the last few days, I got access without logging in on my iPhone.
      • bob12321, on 10/29/2007, -0/+5had to work an iPhone plug in there?
  • cebolla, on 10/29/2007, -12/+4Man, why can't Northern California catch on fire... God, people in soCal are so lucky.
    • BobakN, on 10/29/2007, -6/+2I'm sure you were attempting to be cleverly sarcastic, but really this comment just stupid and disrespectful.

      Of course, if you were serious, you're a jackass.
  • liquisoft, on 10/29/2007, -0/+18The official Press Release is here: http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=ne ...

    And that "article" being linked to in this digg post is way off. Who wrote this? AT&T and TMobile are competitors. Maybe the "author" say the term "hot spot" and thought TMobile owned it. Bad journalism, right there. Anyway, see the link above for the official statement, and see this following link for info about where these hot spots are located: http://www.att.com/gen/general?pid=5949
    • alphaterminus, on 10/29/2007, -0/+1Typical of most journalists who try to write tech stories. They generally confuse details.
  • liquisoft, on 10/29/2007, -2/+2Oh, and I might I just add that while AT&T is on a "philanthropic" mission to better Southern California's access to information, a great place to start would be to enhance the coverage for my home. Seriously, I can't get any signal in here but Verizon Wireless phones work just fine.
    • mike818, on 10/29/2007, -1/+2Thats what landlines are for.
    • bingobongony, on 10/29/2007, -1/+1Yeah...they should focus on ONE home!
  • solidus636, on 10/29/2007, -1/+2Everywhere except the bay area(excluding Mountain View) is getting free Wi-Fi in some way.
    Where is the free wi-fi for the heart of the Silicon Valley?!
    • jermyang, on 10/29/2007, -0/+1well actually cupertino gets free wifi, so... yeah.
  • 0xFEEDFACE, on 10/30/2007, -3/+27AT&T provided a service?

    FREE?!?

    [head explodes]
  • digichris, on 10/29/2007, -8/+5wow how "generous"

    /sarcasim
    • Lassan, on 10/29/2007, -1/+6that was an epic fail comment... you even managed to spell sarcasm wrong‽
  • AuburnTigers, on 10/29/2007, -1/+11Yeah, 5-10 years from now, internet will be wireless EVERYWHERE, and we'll be able to get a signal when our boat crashes on Gilligan's Island, and we can get on whenever and wherever. Cannot wait.
    • 0xFEEDFACE, on 10/29/2007, -1/+1Maybe. Or maybe what will be available 5-10 years from now will be the equivalent of coffee shop hotspots -- you get port 80 and 443 (at a slow speed), but everything else is assumed to be evil. Of course, there'll always be those couple of useful OSS tools that'll get the geeks past these restrictions -- so if you're technically minded, the above dream may well come true -- but for everyone else, the only "information superhighway" of the future is littered with toll booths.

      Interesting times we live in, AuburnTigers... interesting times indeed.
  • Shorties, on 10/29/2007, -3/+4This is amazing, as a resident of Santa Barbara and luckly with no damages from the fire (Except for a scratchy throat thanks to ashy air) I am estatic to hear this!
  • VSKBadCRC, on 10/29/2007, -1/+9NSAT&T
  • H2Glitch2007, on 10/29/2007, -0/+10free wifi = bittorrent spree
  • andyl05, on 10/29/2007, -2/+3This is such crap! They're just trying to woo us with their free WIFI and try and make us forget about the way they treated that one couple by covering it up and calling it a "misunderstanding." ***** AT&T.
  • casemon, on 10/29/2007, -6/+2only fools will not see this for what it is: free internet that the gov watches everything that you browse or do.

    Not just filters for the "bad guys" but everything;

    http://w2.eff.org/legal/cases/att/faq.php
  • ikrit2006, on 10/30/2007, -1/+8How nice of AT&T to offer T-Mobile's service free.
  • jermyang, on 10/29/2007, -4/+4aw man! i wish norcal were on fire!
  • rotibomb, on 10/29/2007, -5/+0Ah, free hot spots for the hot spots!
  • XxIronhidexX, on 10/29/2007, -0/+1The nearest hot spot they are providing is a mile away, but at a McDonalds...I rather pay a fee.
  • dougbarrett, on 10/29/2007, -1/+1I think it is only free to AT&T DSL customers...and if this is the case, then it has always been free for DSL customers.
    • MaxPayne3476, on 10/29/2007, -1/+1.... umm... RTFA, it's free for everyone temporarily.
  • TitanX13, on 10/29/2007, -1/+1why leave the others out, like us in orange county???
  • bingobongony, on 11/04/2007, -4/+4I think it needs to be said...***** AT&T!
  • bingobongony, on 10/29/2007, -6/+2I think we are all missing the obvious. AT&T doesn't WANT to do this. But Steve Jobs put it in the contract that they HAD to do it. Apple loves you. AT&T doesn't. Ron Paul may have played a part in it too. I am not sure.
  • djscsi, on 10/29/2007, -2/+2FWIW, AT&T WiFi (Also McDonald's WiFi) is not actually run by AT&T, but by a separate company out of Texas, and they are pretty much the ones doing the promotion. AT&T is just getting some free publicity out of this..

    Also, article is poorly worded or incorrect, AT&T WiFi and T-mobile hotspots are competitors, not working together.
  • Brooks, on 10/29/2007, -1/+5there's nothing bad to be said about what AT&T is doing. there are people trying to work from the back seat of their cars right now in my area as they try to get their lives together, and this little bit will go a long way for more than a few people.
  • Rizin, on 10/29/2007, -1/+1AT&T and Tmo....Meh Tmo piggy backs of their signal at times I guess its pay back time.
  • therearenorules, on 10/29/2007, -0/+1pity wi-fi :(

    san diego is, actually, looking a lot brighter now. and i can breathe outside! :)
  • OBKenobi, on 11/04/2007, -2/+5It's a ***** trap.
    • siszam, on 10/29/2007, -0/+1They helped the government spy on citizens. Now this? Way too little too late.
  • understudy, on 10/29/2007, -1/+6I'd rather pay for my internet and have my privacy than to receive free internet access with all of my traffic monitored by the . . . wait a second somebody's knocking at my door.

    _
    • czeman, on 10/29/2007, -2/+2You think your ISP doesn't monitor what you do? One of the major broadband providers reported one of their users to the FBI for downloading child porn.
  • st3vo, on 10/29/2007, -1/+1Orange? or Orange County? Irvine baby.. bring it to Irvine!
  • serra, on 10/29/2007, -1/+3Too bad all of their computers and laptops burned and they can't use it.
  • Ascendancy5, on 10/29/2007, -2/+1Why does everything good happen in Cali?
  • yunus, on 10/29/2007, -0/+4I'll bet tomorrow we see an article on the Consumerist about how ATT free wi-fi hotspots block bittorrents.
    • djscsi, on 10/29/2007, -1/+1Would you really complain if your *free* WiFi service blocked your Sopranos download from the pirate bay?
  • slapded, on 10/29/2007, -2/+2and i'm giving free plasmas to darfur. seriously how the ***** do you use WIFI if all your ***** burned
    • MaxPayne3476, on 10/29/2007, -0/+5...cause since people were evactuated, you get roughly some time to grab your most portable and most valuable. And well... most people would probably take their laptop with them.
  • arakel, on 10/29/2007, -4/+0Please note that these are the Go phones and they only have a certain amount of minutes. After a set amount you have to start purchasing minutes.
  • floatingpoints, on 10/29/2007, -2/+3Thanks, but no thanks.

    Hopefully most of you people realize that AT&T allowed government eavesdropping to happen: http://www.eff.org/cases/att
  • solid12345, on 10/29/2007, -0/+0As usual efficient corporations come to the rescue while the incompetent government sits on its ass and makes fake press conferences. Remember when wal-mart was handing out supplies in Katrina before the national guard arrived?
    • czeman, on 10/29/2007, -1/+1and all in the name of PR. They just wrote it off and didn't lose a dime. Never trust a corporate entity. Yes, it's nice they did it, but it was also good PR. A company that attempts to do it under the radar will receive my full commendations.
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