Starbucks Switches Wi-Fi to AT&T

Starbucks is switching Wi-Fi hotspot providers from T-Mobile to AT&T in its 7,000+ company-owned coffee shops across the US.

Starting sometime this spring, folks with a Starbucks Card can use the Wi-Fi service free for two hours a day and AT&T U-verse and broadband customers will get unlimited free access, according to a report on mocoNews.net.

Everyone else will get to choose from two price plans – $3.99 for two hours of access or $19.99 for a monthly subscription. The monthly plan gets you access to all 70,000 AT&T hotspots worldwide.

The switch isn’t really that surprising, considering that Starbucks hooked up with Apple late last year to launch a wireless version of iTunes and give iPhone and iPod touch users free Wi-Fi access to it in some Starbucks locations. Since AT&T is the sole US carrier for the iPhone, an expanded relationship was only a matter of time.

Joe Sims, VP and general manager of T-Mobile’s Broadband Products and Services, said that T-Mobile HotSpot customers will still have access to the service at their favorite Starbucks “now and for years to come,” mocoNews reports.

Image courtesy: Clipart.com.

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