CrunchGear » Search Results » starbucks wi-fi

Daily Crunch: Trilobite Tamer Edition

Bryce Durbin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:00:49 +0000

Wherein we discuss Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony
The Beatles remastered catalogue will be released on an apple-shaped USB drive
The Electrobite makes it fun and exciting to be handicapped
In an age of free and abundant wi-fi, Starbucks takes a stand
My new watch podcast

In an age of free and abundant wi-fi, Starbucks takes a stand

Devin Coldewey — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:30:49 +0000

Here in Seattle, there isn’t enough room to swing a cat without hitting an open wi-fi access point. During lapses in my own internet service (damn you, Comcast) I have gotten by on my neighbors’, or one of the dozen cafes or bars within half a mile that have free, unfettered internet access. In fact, it’s become a sort of lifestyle I and other Seattleites subscribe to, flitting about the cafes, sharing music, blogging together. Pretty obnoxious, now that I think about it. But if there’s another thing Seattle is known for, it’s Starbucks. Now, like any true Seattleite, I haven’t set foot in a Starbucks in years except when absolutely necessary (airport, gift card, etc) — I could make some statement about burned beans and corporate culture, but really, it’s because of their lack of wi-fi.

Oh sure, they have wi-fi. There’s a guy in Madison Park who’s been playing WoW almost nonstop for years at one of the flagship stores. But it isn’t free, and internet you pay for isn’t really a hot item in the most wired city in the country.

But as if it weren’t enough to have to pay for internet there, Starbucks is revamping their system to create a wi-fi access point of unprecedented complexity. Instead of doing something like selling vouchers for a day, a month, or a year of wi-fi at any Starbucks, they are instituting a complicated rewards system, with tiers, drink privileges, and a bunch of other stuff involved.

What can I say about a program with a FAQ like this? You’re giving people stars, and moving them around levels? I can’t decide whether they’re trying to be Super Mario Galaxy or a first grade classroom. It’s completely ridiculous.

I think what they’re doing is just pushing pre-paid cards, because that forces you to go back to Starbucks more. And if there’s a free drink there for you after however many drinks, and the card is linked to your internet access, you’re kind of stuck with it. But really, why not just have verified punch cards for free drinks, and if you really must charge for internet, why not just sell blocks of time and have people log in through a gateway? This cumbersome Starbucks ecosystem is why people who dislike Starbucks do so. …Also, your espresso is thin and the drip sucks.

Geek Weekend: Minneapolis-Saint Paul, MN

Doug Aamoth — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:00:33 +0000

Wikimedia

We’ve been getting requests from various citizens to feature their respective cities in our new Geek Weekend feature here on CrunchGear, so when a request came in for the Twin Cities, John asked me to write it up and I thought, ~~“Oh, great. More work.”~~ “Perfect! I grew up there! I know where geeky stuff is located!”

Background Info: The Twin Cities denotes the capital city of St. Paul, MN and the larger, more cosmopolitan city of Minneapolis, MN. Together the two cities are home to roughly 2.5 million people.

There’s always been a friendly little rivalry going on between the two cities, with some people from Minneapolis viewing people from St. Paul as more blue-collar and rough-around-the-edges, while some from St. Paul think people from Minneapolis are yuppies. I’ve lived in both cities and they’re both nice places. Overall, the rivalry is pretty silly, but it’s there. Look hard enough in any city, though, and you’ll find both a-holes and nice people. No different in the Twin Cities. Everyone’s pretty nice, overall, though.

Minneapolis features a relatively large downtown commercial district. It’s home to the Target Corporation, the Target Center (home of the Timberwolves, concerts, etc.), the Metrodome (home of the Twins, the Vikings, and monster truck rallies) — soon to be replaced by the new outdoor Target Field, and First Avenue, a little music club that’s seen a fair amount of pretty big acts.

St. Paul has the Xcel Energy Center (home of the Wild, concerts, etc.), the St. Paul Saints minor league baseball team (owned by Bill Murray), the Science Museum, and the capital building.

The gigantic University of Minnesota (50,000+ students) sprawls across both Minneapolis and St. Paul. The two cities’ downtown areas are about ten miles apart.

Where to Buy Gadgets: When you realize that you’ve forgotten something important at home, I can recommend the following places based on firsthand experience.

Micro Center: Where I spent most of the past five years of my life before I moved to Boston. This place is located a few blocks from the home I used to own. It’s a great place for cheap cables and the staff is relatively helpful without being pushy. You can walk around in here for an hour or so before anybody bothers you. They have some name brands at decent prices and a fair amount of gray market-type stuff that you’d find on the internet.

General NanoSystems: Very knowledgeable and helpful staff, excellent prices, kind of like a mom and pop computer store that’s able to compete with other retailers. Similar to Micro Center but more local. Very cheap cables — probably the cheapest you’ll find.

FirstTech: All Apple, all the time. These guys are the kings and queens of Apple sales, training, and tech support in Minneapolis. Located right on Hennepin Avenue in the middle of trendy Uptown Minneapolis, it’s not a huge store by any means but they’ve got it all and they know their stuff.

Best Buy — Store #5: Of the trillions of Best Buy super stores, Store #5 is still standing. One of the original Best Buy stores (back when it was called Sound of Music), legend has it that Store #5 was a present from original Best Buy CEO and founder Dick Schulze to his wife. She’d forever get all the revenue generated by the little store that could.

It’s seriously a sight to behold, especially if you’ve only been in the gigantic Best Buy stores before. Store #5 can’t be more than a couple thousand square feet, everything’s packed to the rafters, and the aisles are uncomfortably tight.

Little known fact: Store #5 is where I worked in high school — it was my first job ever. I sold computers, earning $5.38 an hour. I spent my entire first paycheck on a Super Nintendo.

Where to Eat and Drink: First thing in the morning, you’ll want to pick up a coffee at local legend turned #2 coffee company behind Starbucks, Caribou Coffee. They’re everywhere, even moreso than Starbucks.

If #2 is still too big for you, try local legend turned… um, still local legend, Dunn Bros. They’ve got some strong coffee there and many locations have morning coffee on the honor system — pour your own and pay a buck. And don’t leave without trying the gigantic Rice Krispie square. It’s big as your head.

For breakfast, head over to Linden Hills and eat at Zumbro. Nothing geeky about this place, but it has the best, most consistently-delicious breakfast in the history of eating. Get the “Eggs Etc.” over hard with bacon and sourdough, plus a single pancake. You’ll never have a better breakfast. Tell them Doug from Boston sent you. I eat there every time I’m in town.

You can also try Cafe Twenty-Eight, which is right down the street and very delicious as well. Get the farmer’s breakfast. If it’s lunch or dinner time, get the bacon cheeseburger and a local beer — Surly Furious is my favorite. Surly is relatively popular in the Twin Cities and the guy who owns it also owns Cafe Twenty-Eight.

And any geek worth his or her salt will do a fair amount of eating and drinking at the Chatterbox (two locations in Minneapolis, one in St. Paul). Great food, excellent beer selection and — wait for it — old school video game consoles and vintage board games at every table. Snag the NES table and rent just about every Nintendo game all night for $1 apiece. There is NO better way to hang out for hours on end, as far as I’m concerned.

After you’ve had your fill of retro gaming and beer, head over to Northeast Minneapolis and go low-tech at Nye’s Polonaise Room. Home of the self-proclaimed “World’s Most Dangerous Polka Band” and live piano karaoke, Nye’s was voted the Best Bar in America by Esquire Magazine. The look and feel of the place hasn’t changed in… well, ever, and the drinks are cheap and strong.

Once you’ve stumbled back home, make sure to call in for late-night food from Galactic Pizza — which I could have sworn used to be open until 3AM, but it now seems that they’re only open until 1AM on the weekends. Oh well, do it anyway. Know why? Because they deliver in three-wheeled electric pods while dressed as superheros. It’s outstanding.

Daytime Activities: Aside from eating your way through the Twin Cities, there’s plenty of other fun stuff to do throughout the day.

Here’s a curveball to get things started; head over to the St. Paul Curling Club. Remember Curling? From the Olympics? Like bowling on ice, kinda? The St. Paul Curling Club is the largest curling club in the country and makes for a great way to kill a few hours on a hot day. Bring some friends and have a few beers afterwards. It’s fun, I promise.

While you’re over in St. Paul, check out the Science Museum of Minnesota — especially if you have kids with you. There’s a lot of fun stuff for them to do there and almost everything is interactive in some way. Let them run around and play while you relax and take in a show (or nap) in the Omnitheater.

Round out the afternoon with a visit to St. Paul’s Fort Snelling. You’ll see old-timey reenactors blasting cannons and muskets at each other. Sure, it’s a bunch of stuff from the early 1800’s, but there’s still some cool old war technology and weaponry there.

For some straightforward Chuck-E-Cheese-style gaming, but for adults, head to downtown Minneapolis’ Block E and visit Gameworks. There’s a pretty decent bowling alley inside, too. Try to go during the daytime, if possible. That whole area gets a little dicey at night (unless they’ve cleaned it up by now).

Just outside of the Twin Cities sits Valleyfair, Minnesota’s answer to Six Flags, Disneyland, and various kid-friendly waterparks. Admission costs almost $40 per person but you can get a four-pack of tickets for $25 apiece. Use the money you save to buy half of a small drink once you’re inside the park.

Also just outside of the city, Grand Slam is a pretty fun place for the kids. There are batting cages, an 18-hole miniature golf course (pirate themed!), laser tag, go karts, and video games.

And, of course, I have to mention the Mall of America. Don’t go to the Mall of America. Walk around your local mall 60 times in a row to get the same effect. If you’re dead set on going, there’s an amusement park in the middle of the mall with overpriced, non-thrilling rides for the kids and an underwater aquarium, which is actually kind of cool. Go in the middle of the week if you can. Weekends there are an absolute madhouse.

If you’re looking for some exercise, there are plenty of lakes with excellent walking, running, and bike paths. In the city, you can scoot around Lake Harriet, Lake Calhoun, and Lake of the Isles — they’re situated within blocks of each other. Lake Harriet is a nice walking lake with a big bandstand and ice cream for the kids, Lake Calhoun features some very beautiful Scandanavian eye candy (both men and women), and Lake of the Isles is a little quieter but has some pretty enormous houses for architecture buffs.

Finally, make sure to check out the Brave New Workshop on Hennepin Avenue in Uptown Minneapolis. Founded by Dudley Riggs in 1958, it’s the longest running satirical theatre in the country specializing in political and social satire. I spent the better part of my twenties there honing my improv skills and acting in various shows. Now I fumble my way through video reviews of gadgets. Same basic difference.

Other Good Geeky Shopping:

Other Geek-Friendly Bars and Restaurants:

Local Tech Businesses:

Best Buy
Geek Squad (now owned by Best Buy)
Target
3M
Medtronic
Ecolab
Seagate
Cray
Hormel Foods (they make SPAM!)
Map of area tech startups (from CrunchBase)
Minneapolis citywide Wi-Fi

Anything Else?

I’m bound to have forgotten more than a few great places. Drop your recommendations in the comments — there’s plenty to see and do in the Twin Cities.

Barnes and Noble now has free Wi-Fi

Nicholas Deleon — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:30:17 +0000

There’s now free Wi-Fi at Barnes and Noble. The big bad book store chain just flipped the switch on the free service today, which is provided by AT&T.

In his book I Hate Your Guts, Jim Norton said he wished Starbucks would charge $300 per hour for Wi-Fi access, presumably to clear out the freeloaders who ruin his ability to order his beverage of choice.

I guess that’s it. Sorry to bother you.

iPhone 3.0 wrap-up: Cut and paste, MMS, Push, and more

Devin Coldewey — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:04:49 +0000

We’ve just finished liveblogging the event, and the iPhone 3.0 press conference has definitely yielded some delicious morsels of functionality. Here is pretty much everything you need to know, though as things get more clear throughout the day, we’ll update this post. You guys will probably be seeing these features sometime this summer.

Our camera conked out at the event, so SlashGear has generously provided images until we can get our own up. Thanks, Vince, I’ll buy you a drink next time I see you.

iPhone 3.0 Features for you:

Push
PUSH!
Bluetooth will be used to auto-discover nearby people for games without any pairing. They then can communicate via Wi-Fi. Hopefully it’s secure, it could be nice.
There will NOT be background processing, no matter how much you want it. Reduces battery life. As if battery life could get much worse, noted a commenter.
Cut, Copy and Paste: This feature was seen riding a dinosaur into the auditorium. Anyway, it’s finally here and it even applies to image(s). Simply double tap a word and it gets highlighted with “cut, copy or paste” above. For a block of text you just tap a word and drag the edges. It works across all applications. It seems like anywhere the magnifier works, copy and paste will work. If you accidentally paste the wrong word or phrase then just shake the iPhone for an “Undo” prompt. To redo just shake again.
Meebo coming as a native app for iPhone. That sounds nice.
New “home” screen to the left of your current far-left one. It has a Spotlight search, looks for stuff all over your phone.
Calendar supports CalDAV now, you can subscribe to other calendars online. Useful for syncing with your spouse or whatnot, even if they’re on Google or Yahoo.
Many apps will now support internal search, including Mail. It’s incomplete (doesn’t search message contents) but it’ll search IMAP servers, so if you’ve got GMail for instance you’ll be good. A collective sigh of relief emanates from iPhone owners.
Landscape keyboard all up in every app you can think of.
Multimedia Messages! This feature flew in on a Pterodactyl.
Stereo Bluetooth. I know how much you love that, honey, so I just went and got it for you.
Hotspot auto-login. Because you love Starbucks but don’t want to waste time inputting passwords.
Send and receive file between your iPhone and iPod Touch. That’s awesome.

3.0 features for App store and Developers:

Apps can talk directly to accessories — FM transmitters, stereos, anything you like. Expect a lot of bundled apps with your iPhone bundled apps. How about an NES-like iPhone controller for those emulators?
You can get subscription apps now, in case you weren’t paying enough already.
Apps can now use voice communication. I foresee controversy.
Embeddable maps for developers. Now they won’t have to launch Maps outside their application. Handy for shopping apps.
Buy stuff in-app: I’m calling this the “Sims” feature. You could also use it to buy books for a reader, or new maps for a game, that sort of thing.
Turn by turn directions in navigation apps now. First one probably from Telenav.
Apps can access the user’s library of music and videos, so you could have the background music in a game be the user’s.
Lots of new APIs, too many to list here but if you’re a dev you’re gonna check it out.
Tethering support is in there, but “will depend on each carrier on supporting it.”

The upgrade will be free for iPhone users, but iPod Touch folks will have to shell out $10, like last time.

Well, we didn’t get fixes for a lot of our issues with the iPhone, but a lot of this stuff will be really handy. Search and push in particular will make this a lot more useful for business types. We’ll let you all know as soon as we know anything more, say about the release date for this big mother of an update.

Is your AT&T Wi-Fi working at Starbucks? [UPDATE]

John Biggs — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:38:39 +0000

Reader Michael writes:

I could not log onto my Starbucks ATT WiFi account today. I called ATT and they said it’s part of the Starbucks issue that they are tying to resolve as quickly as possible. And that it’s not a technical issue but rather a business issue that is the reason for the denial of access.

ATT gave me a temporary coupon to log on today so no problem with ATT. I hope ATT and Starbucks can resolve their business issue.

Anyone else have the same issue?

We’re on the horn with AT&T right now. What could be happening? Is it the end of the world?

UPDATE – AT&T writes:

I don’t think there’s anything widespread on this .. I’d know about it. The implementation was a rollout. Store by store (or region-by-region, really).

Perhaps Michael is in an underserved area? Crisis averted.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-G3 has built-in Wi-Fi, 3 years of free AT&T hotspot access

Nicholas Deleon — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:00:09 +0000

Sony’s Cyber-shot DSC-G3 point-and-shoot digital camera not only has built-in Wi-Fi, but it also has its own Web browser. Guess that makes uploading your photos to the Internet a little easier.

The camera itself is a 10-megapixel one, with a 4X optical zoom. So, nothing too out of the ordinary, then.

It’ll upload to “popular” photo and (video) sharing site; Sony mentions Picassa and Shutterfly, but presumably you’d be able to upload to Facebook and Flickr, the [other] two big ones.

Sony even throws in a few years of free AT&T Wi-Fi access, the kind you’d find at Starbucks. Free access lasts till January, 2012.

One small issue: price. It’s a little steep at $500 (but it’s available now). Seems to me EyeFi would be a much cheaper way to approximate the experience.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-G3

AT&T plays nice, gives BlackBerry users free Wi-Fi, too

Peter Ha — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:55:48 +0000

After months of giving and taking back free Wi-Fi to iPhone users, AT&T announced that all BlackBerry users will be privy to the “nation’s largest Wi-Fi network” if you have an unlimited data plan. Other Wi-Fi-enabled devices will receive the same treatment in the future.

Free Wi-Fi is also being offered to those with AT&T small business broadband plans, AT&T High Speed Internet plans and with qualified AT&T LaptopConnect plans. AT&T is also offering Wi-Fi subscriptions for $20 a month.

“AT&T is committed to providing its customers with the best connectivity at the best value,” said David Christopher, chief marketing officer of AT&T’s mobility business unit. “We have the industry’s leading
lineup of smartphones, along with the nation’s largest Wi-Fi network. It only makes sense for us to bring these unique capabilities together for our customers.”

Free Wi-Fi at Starbucks for iPhone users

John Biggs — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 19:45:26 +0000

Once again AT&T is offering free Wi-Fi access at Starbucks and McDonald’s hotspots in the US. The system is fairly simple: just type in your AT&T phone number when you fire up your mobile browser get 24 hours of connectivity automatically.

iPhone users, get started with Wi-Fi

*
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 hotspot. 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 hotspot location.
*
Open the text message and tap on the link for 24-hour access to the AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot

They’ve turned this on and off over the past few months and this time it looks like it’s actually going to stick. According to an AT&T source, the service should be officially announced today but it seems everything is in place for a full roll-out. This should work in any of AT&T 17,000 nationwide hotspots.

Dell Mini-Inspiron specs a-leaked: Doesn’t seem too bad at all

Nicholas Deleon — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:35:59 +0000

Well I’ll be—the Dell Mini-Inspiron doesn’t look half bad. Gizmodo broke into Dell headquarters, beat up the security guard, and stole the full spec sheet for the Internet’s enjoyment. That, or some dude just e-mailed a copy to Rothman. Either way, the specs are now out there.

The raw: 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, up to 1GB of RAM, a solid state drive (4 to 16GB), 8.9-inch display with a 1024×600 resolution, Wi-Fi and three USB ports.

A four cell battery rounds out the package.

The best part? It comes with an Ubunutu configuration. Set up a lightweight window manager and you could have yourself a fine “I’m going to Starbucks, might as well surf the Web while I’m there” computer. Might be handy when covering trade shows, too.

AT&T finalizes free Wi-Fi goodness

John Biggs — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:55:28 +0000

All of AT&T’s 17,000 hotspots are currently open and ready for business, including most Starbucks stores less the ones the close because we are entering the second Great Depression. Hotspots are free to AT&T iPhone subscribers.

All of the spots are free, so just roll on up and give them a go. If you’re at a Starbucks today, try it out and show us what it looks like. We’re very curious.

First Dash Wi-Fi update hits devices

John Biggs — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:50:09 +0000

One of the most compelling features of the Dash – Wi-Fi updates – is finally here. Dash users have to simply connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi and the Dash GPS unit will download and install the update automatically. Try doing that with your TomTom.

After the update the devices will have MyRoute, a system that maintains a list of your popular routes and adds your personal preferences to its routing suggestions.

Here’s a rundown of the latest goodies:

MyRoute™ – With the new MyRoute feature, as you travel from one point to another, Dash Express will automatically learn your preferred route in the background. The next time that you drive between the same origin and destination, the first route choice will be MyRoute, complete with traffic-based arrival time data. MyRoute can be compared to the computed Dash routes, including traffic detours, to decide which is optimal.

Search Along Route™ – Finding whatever you need on the road using Yahoo! Local search just got even easier. With the new Search Along Route feature, you can now search for anything you need along your selected route, shortening diversions on the way to your destination. Want to grab a latte on the way to a meeting? Simply do a Yahoo! Local search for “Starbucks” and select “along route” to be presented with the stores that are most conveniently located. Results are displayed with the distance from your current location, the distance off the route and the direction of the destination relative to the selected route.

FasterFind™ – With the new FasterFind feature, we have dramatically decreased the time it takes for Dash Express to find its position and start navigating. Powered by SiRFInstantFix technology, Dash Express uses additional over-the-air GPS satellite position information to get a fast GPS fix so you can be underway in seconds. FasterFind will even improve the device’s ability to get a GPS fix under difficult conditions such as beneath tree cover and near high-rise buildings.

Performance Enhancements – Continued system tuning has enabled significant progress in overall device performance. For instance, the June08 Update increases the speed in which Dash Express draws its maps by more than 50%. It also enables quicker toggling between 2D and 3D map views and smoother map zooming.

User Interface Improvements – The June08 Update also includes numerous customer-requested refinements to the Dash Express interface, making it even more intuitive for daily use. These improvements include tuning the route selection screen to make it easier to select among the multiple route choices, improving the readability of road labels on the map and expanding the night mode color scheme across more menus for glare reduction.

Horrors: No more iTunes cards at Starbucks

Nicholas Deleon — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:10:05 +0000

The joy of walking into a Starbucks and buying a CD or copping an iTunes gift card along with a venti iced coffee is over! The coffee chain, which has hit a bit of a rough patch, will no longer sell CDs or offer iTunes gift cards at its retail locations. It will still offer free Wi-Fi, though, so don’t freak out too much.

Not enough people were buying CDs at stores to make it worth the company’s time of day. Never mind that the local, non-Starbucks café—if you have one—has free Wi-Fi, cheaper (better?) coffee, and lacks the pretentiousness of the Seattle-based chain.

In other music-related news, it looks like Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida” sold quite well, despite the fact that it was available on BitTorrent sites for some time before its official release. But piracy kills the industry and makes baby angels cry, I know.

T-Mobile, Starbucks Wi-Fi lawsuit settled

Nicholas Deleon — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:11:12 +0000

Sleep easy now, friends, for the T-Mobile-AT&T-Starbucks lawsuit has been settled for an undisclosed sum, thought to be in the neighborhood of several venti ice coffees and a couple bottles of Ethos.

Yup, the lawsuit that captured the imagination of dozens is now over. You’ll remember that T-Mobile threw a fit over Starbucks’ handling of turning over Wi-Fi responsibilities from it to AT&T. T-Mo said Starbucks and AT&T weren’t abiding by the agreement that was in place.

But all is well. Now let’s watch Germany v. Croatia and forget our troubles for 90 minutes.

The iPhone is grand, but is AT&T reaping the benefits of a new Apple “halo effect”?

Matt Hickey — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:00:45 +0000

Right now our biggest stories are about the iPhone 2 and how it’s going to revolutionize mobile communications. Apple did it before with the original iPhone, setting the stage for a number of wannabes and imitators. This means the bar for the follow-up handset is high, though Apple is likely able to hit the mark. With its shortcomings, there’s plenty or room for improvement in the iPhone.

That means that all eyes this week will be on the company Steve Jobs founded. But what about the other half of the iPhone equation, AT&T Wireless? Most people forget that a cell phone, as a piece of hardware, is pretty useless without the wireless network to make it work. Sure, you can unlock the iPhone and use it on any GSM network, but as it is most iPhone users stay with AT&T, and it’s not just contractual obligations.

AT&T has quietly been transforming into a much maligned poorly rated carrier into the high-techest carrier in North America, and the iPhone has a lot to do with the transition. But is it all iPhone, or is AT&T just playing it smart?

AT&T before it was AT&T, but after it was the first AT&T

The original AT&T Wireless was a fully owned part of AT&T, after the telecom giant bough a smaller cellular carrier and absorbed it. Later, it spun it off as its own company to maximize profitability. When this happened it also acquired its own customer service team. Though it was far from perfect, the service provided was reasonable. Later it rolled out a nationwide GSM network, alongside T-Mobile and Cingular.

T-Mobile was known for having good customer service and poor coverage. Cingular was known for the opposite, crap service and good coverage. AT&T was a compromise so it became quite popular.

About five years ago, Cingular bought AT&T, who rolled out its ill-fated M-Mode EDGE system while deploying its fast, next-gen 3G system. The two companies combined, but not without many growing pains.

Customers who were formerly AT&T had an ultimatum: switch to new Cingular plans — with a contract extension — or be shut out of upgrading services or handsets. This upset many long-time, happy AT&T customers. It was also a prelude to things to come.

Eventually all customers were “converted” to the Cingular fold, but customer service nightmares were rampant in message boards. When calling for service, a user wouldn’t have any idea if they were going to get AT&T support (Blue) or Cingular support (Orange). There was no cross training, leading to horrible support on both sides, though it wasn’t the fault of the service reps. This went on for months and months until the Blue side was finally integrated.

Cingular went on to have some of the worst customer service ratings of any carrier ever. It was hemorrhaging customers to T-Mobile, happy that they could unlock their handsets and get better service with comparable plans without much up-front cost.

Meanwhile, SBC, majority owner of Cingular, bought up AT&T Wireless’s former parent, AT&T, rebranding itself with the ancient moniker. The “New AT&T” as it was called then bought up the other major shareholder in Cingular, Bell South. Having complete control of the wireless carrier, it was rebranded as AT&T Mobility.

The good news is that the mergers brought a new focus to the company formerly called Cingular, with the new entity having high marks in service. But it’s what happened next that starting the ball rolling to make it the second largest cellular network in the US.

Enter the iPhone

Before the merger took place, when it was just rumors on forums, Apple had inked a five-year exclusivity deal with Cingular for its iPhone. Steve Jobs cited Cingular’s advanced network as the main reason, as no other US competitor had the technology in place to make the iPhone’s Visual Voicemail work, one of the key selling points. While the iPhone at first didn’t take advantage of Cingular’s 3G network, there were other factors at work that made it an attractive partner.

As the Cingular to AT&T transition finished, the iPhone became one of the new companies greatest sellers. Apple negotiated for special plans for the iPhone users, meaning people could use the hardware to its greatest extent.

At the same time, AT&T added many mid-to-high-end devices to its lineup, including several Blackberries, Windows Mobile smartphones, and other feature-rich handsets. AT&T was aiming at the top end of the market, and at first analysts were worried it would cannibalize its own iPhone sales.

But the iPhone sold well enough. Soon, AT&T introduced the nation’s first video chatting system for handsets for phone-to-phone video calls. This is something communications companies have been promising for years, and now people finally had it.

There was concern, though, that it was only on particular devices. There weren’t many, and other than the video features they paled in comparison to the feature-stocked and elegant iPhone.

This is where the iPhone 2, with its purported forward-facing iChat camera, comes in.

The iPhone had without a doubt the industry’s best handheld Web browser as well as the best music phone ever made. With the update expected Monday, the iPhone should get the video chat as well. This means that the iPhone will be the top choice for any AT&T subscriber.

AT&T goes next-gen

What AT&T is excited about, though, is the interoperability. The video chat on the iPhone will work with any other video chat-enabled AT&T phone. With users flocking to the carrier for the iPhone, others will be happy with standard phones with the feature.

The technology the carrier has in place for this kind of communication, as well as the improved customer service, means that many people are looking intently at AT&T. The question is this: Does AT&T owe its current success to Apple? Or, more to the point, does it owe its success to the iPhone?

There’s a “halo effect” that many attribute to the spike in sales of Mac computers. The idea is that the iPod was such a hit that people started to consider Macs again, or, put more simply, iPod sales boosted Mac sales. Could the halo effect also apply to AT&T?

A good indicator would be Starbucks’s recent decision to choose AT&T over T-Mobile to run its in-store Wi-Fi networks. The Wi-Fi service difference between the two would be negligible, and T-Mobile already had hotspots in thousands of Starbucks locations across the country. So why change?

Sure, AT&T was rumored to offer special discounts on Wi-Fi to iPhone users, but it’s likely that was only part of the reason. AT&T, with the iPhone, video chat, fast 3G connectivity, and growing happy customer base, is probably the top carrier in the US right now.

You can’t attribute it all to the iPhone, but having the sleek black-and-chrome multipurpose handset as its flagship phone, and with all things associated with it, certainly helps in the cultural cachet department. With luck AT&T can continue to use this momentum to stay on top, and on Monday we should get some clue as to what the future holds.

T-Mo sues Starbucks for making its latte too frothy… wait…. for dumping them

John Biggs — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 15:55:44 +0000

T-Mobile is crying “collusion” in response to Starbucks’ decision to take on AT&T Wi-Fi service in its stores.

Reuters writes:

T-Mobile is seeking unspecified damages against Starbucks for breach of its contract and unfair competition.

According to a transition agreement reached in February, T-Mobile was given the exclusive right to “sell, market and promote its services” in Starbucks stores until those stores were fully converted to the AT&T system, the lawsuit said.

T-Mo is complaining that AT&T is basically riding on their infrastructure to offer Wi-Fi in stores and is asking for an undisclosed amount.

Starbucks officially announces free Wi-Fi

Peter Ha — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:46:12 +0000

Flickr’d
As reported yesterday, Starbucks is giving away two hours of free Wi-Fi to customers who purchase a $5 (minimum) Starbucks card. The two hours cannot be spread out from one coffee run to the next, though. If you want to take advantage, you’ll have to sit there and suffer. I could care less if Starbucks offered me 10 hours of free Wi-Fi to use whenever I feel like in a given month. The coffee is terrible. I wholeheartedly agree with this quote:

“They are desperate to keep the traffic going in their stores,” says Eric Zeitoun, president of Dragon Rouge USA, a brand consulting firm. “But free Internet access won’t get you there. Starbucks needs to fundamentally rethink the environment of its stores.”

Starbucks to give away free Wi-Fi tomorrow

Nicholas Deleon — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:48:16 +0000

Starbucks will give away Wi-Fi starting tomorrow, June 3. Or:

When you register your Starbucks Card and use it at least once a month, you’ll receive two consecutive hours a day of complimentary Wi-Fi, courtesy of AT&T.

Not much to complain about here, really. Buy an elitist latte once in a while, and check the headlines. Like, say, that Mourinho is officially at Inter Milan. And it’s regular Wi-Fi, too, and none of this iPhone-only nonsense. (Can’t you just change the user agent?)

Starbucks motives are pretty obvious. With the price of living having gone up, as Ben Bernake said, “like whoa,” people may be less inclined to spend $4 on a sugar+caffeine drink. So, lure them with free Wi-Fi.

That said, may I suggest you bring a pair of headphones? The music playing at Starbucks is so depressing most of the time I’m in there, so supplying my own soundtrack is a necessity.

Mystery solved: AT&T’s iPhone Wi-Fi is coming, but not ready yet

John Biggs — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:56:30 +0000

We received this internal memo to AT&T employees describing a failed launch today of AT&T’s WiFi service. From the memo:

“The iPhone Wi-Fi offer that was scheduled to launch today has been canceled. Nothing has been announced by the company to our customers and will not impact existing customers. Additional communication will be provided if the status the project changes.”

This appears to be the same service we spotted at Starbucks ten days ago. This could be a move to make pre-3G iPhone users feel less left out in the bandwidth department, but also let’s hope they have a strong upgrade path for existing users.

Read our full AT&T Wi-Fi coverage here.

AT&T offers iPhone users free Wi-Fi, again

Peter Ha — Thu, 08 May 2008 11:09:02 +0000

The on-again, off-again Wi-Fi service that AT&T offered for free to iPhone users last week is now back on. The AT&T wireless site has been updated to reflect that iPhone users now have access to more than 17,000 Wi-Fi hotspots including Starbucks. I’m sure we’ll get an official statement from AT&T today.