Starbucks to Offer Free WiFi This Spring

February 11, 2008

Talk about a great way to start the week! Starbucks has just announced that they plan to deliver free WiFi to 7,000 Starbucks across the US by early Spring.

Starbucks Card holders (basically just prepay cards for coffee, tea, etc., purchases), will be entitled to two hours of free WiFi a day, while current AT&T broadband users will have unlimited free access to the WiFi service. AT&T is also allowing current T-Mobile customers to keep using hotspots at no extra cost.

Considering the current price is $4 for two hours of WiFi, I think it's fair to say that this is a glorious day in the tech world.

Starbucks WiFi

22 Comments

wowjules 4 years 49 weeks

What is with this AT&T preference? First Apple with the iPhone, and now Starbucks? Not impressed...

Hi1t3k 5 years 4 weeks

T-Mobile was paying Starbucks to be there and collecting revenue from its customers to pay for the equipment costs, the costs to maintain the network, costs to upgrade the network and the customer care costs to support it all. And, yes, they made a little money for providing the service. Now, at&t is giving away the service for free and at&t still has to pay Starbucks to be there. My guess is that there won't be any equipment upgrades, no more customer care support, and no free iTunes. Or, everybody's lattes prices go up to pay for the Wi-Fi or everyone gets inundated with pop-up ads. There really is nothing for free. Someone has to pay for the service.

Hi1t3k 5 years 4 weeks

T-Mobile was paying Starbucks to be there and collecting revenue from its customers to pay for the equipment costs, the costs to maintain the network, costs to upgrade the network and the customer care costs to support it all. And, yes, they made a little money for providing the service.Now, at&t is giving away the service for free and at&t still has to pay Starbucks to be there. My guess is that there won't be any equipment upgrades, no more customer care support, and no free iTunes. Or, everybody's lattes prices go up to pay for the Wi-Fi or everyone gets inundated with pop-up ads. There really is nothing for free. Someone has to pay for the service.

yooie 5 years 13 weeks

Registering your Starbucks card is really simple, and you can also reload your card online or set up an automatic reload (if you go to Starbucks daily). And if you lose your card, you can call them and they'll replace your card with the balance you had.

tiabia 5 years 13 weeks

Happy to know AT&T and Starbucks are still being kind to the T-mobile customer!!!

ilanac13 5 years 13 weeks

i guess that means that i'll have to register my cards every time i get one from a vendor. that's going to be a pain in the butt - but i guess it's a nice thing that they are doing.

ainje 5 years 13 weeks

Same for me, looseseal... My entire city is wired!

luckyclovr15 5 years 13 weeks

finally i can get some work done :)

looseseal 5 years 13 weeks

Meh, I'm unimpressed since I hail from a city where [i]malls[/i] have free wifi open to everyone.

angelinemarie 5 years 13 weeks

thats super!i love Starbucks with all my heart

angelinemarie 5 years 13 weeks

thats super! i love Starbucks with all my heart

LaLa0428 5 years 13 weeks

Thats pretty cool of them. I mean when the burger joints are offering it, what took them so long?

x_juicyfruit 5 years 13 weeks

Wow, this is awesome!!!!

x_juicyfruit 5 years 13 weeks

Wow, this is awesome!!!!

POPSUGAR Tech 5 years 13 weeks

kscincotta: If you are an AT&T customer you get unlimited WiFi for free, whereas if you are not, you will be entitled to 2hrs of free WiFi (they are probably using the 2hr mark so people won't end up spending 10hrs a day using their free internet!) I think the gift cards are being used as a method to show you are actually purchasing something (or have purchased something since the card acts as a pre-pay card). Again, deterring people who just want to use the WiFi but not purchase a coffee, etc while they are there. So in the end, no matter what, you will get 2hrs of free WiFi. No questions asked.

POPSUGAR Tech 5 years 13 weeks

freegracefrom 5 years 13 weeks

My cell service is Verizon and my internet service is Comcast, so I guess I'm not included? Still hating AT&T.

kscincotta 5 years 13 weeks

OK, I just read the press release and I'm still confused. First off, I'm not an AT&T customer, so none of that actually covers me. I have random Starbucks gift cards that people gave me for Christmas, but none of them are registered in my name. So I'm very unclear how that gets me 2 hours of "free" WiFi. Is the cost being taken off my gift cards? And lastly, I currently pay for monthly T-Mobile access. Do I still have to pay for this in order to get my "free" AT&T wireless?Any way I look at this, I'm still paying for WiFi at Starbucks and I don't like it.

kscincotta 5 years 13 weeks

OK, I just read the press release and I'm still confused. First off, I'm not an AT&T customer, so none of that actually covers me. I have random Starbucks gift cards that people gave me for Christmas, but none of them are registered in my name. So I'm very unclear how that gets me 2 hours of "free" WiFi. Is the cost being taken off my gift cards? And lastly, I currently pay for monthly T-Mobile access. Do I still have to pay for this in order to get my "free" AT&T wireless? Any way I look at this, I'm still paying for WiFi at Starbucks and I don't like it.