Use a Starbucks card once a month, get two hours of free daily Wi-Fi

I know we're all cosmopolitan dandies too refined to frequent somewhere as plebeian as Starbucks, but we may just have to put our love of better-than-awful coffee aside to address our primary addiction: free internet. Starbucks and AT&T are offering a new free Wi-Fi program for Starbucks gift card owners, giving two free hours of Wi-Fi a day. You'll have to buy at least one coffee a month — or at least recharge your card.

For once, the ubiquity of Starbucks will be an asset. Unfortunately for heavy travelers, most Starbucks in airports are franchised, not corporate owned, and thus may not have the AT&T-provided Wi-Fi that makes this possible.

According to the FAQ, the old partnership deal with T-Mobile may not be going away entirely:

Q: I am a T-Mobile subscriber, can I still use Wi-Fi at Starbucks?

A: Yes! T-Mobile Wi-Fi customers can continue to access Starbucks Wi-Fi HotSpots. Just connect to the 'tmobile' network as you have in the past to use your T-Mobile credentials to log in.

Sign-up page [Secure.SBC.com]

Update: Lifehacker reminds us that spoofing your browser's user-agent string to appear as an iPhone may also get you free Wi-Fi, no coffee necessary. [Lifehacker]

[#1 posted by jjasper , June 3, 2008 6:21 AM]

Yeah. I'd rather pay the 20 bucks a month for T-Mobile wireless. It allows me access in a lot of airports and other networks too.

[#2 posted by bardfinn , June 3, 2008 7:13 AM]

Buy a coffee, get spied upon.

Ehhhxcellent.

[#3 posted by Seg , June 3, 2008 12:09 PM]

To me, I always found that free Wi-Fi was the boon of smaller/indy cafes in an area. Starbucks gets the name recognition, but the other places compete by providing an added value service Starbucks didn't provide: Free Wi-Fi.

The paid service from Starbucks (re: T-Mobile) does offer a competitive advantage of knowing any Starbucks will give you reliable Internet access. For travelers, doing a Starbucks location lookup is just another Wi-Fi location lookup.

As for me, I go to indy shops with free Wi-Fi when I want to do work outside of my home and will continue to do so. I don't forbid myself from Starbucks, but I only go in two situations. When I'm traveling (in airports; new area), or on my way to work and feel like a mocha (no other competitor without adding 30 minutes to my commute). Definitely not for Wi-Fi.

Still, it's going to be interesting how the dynamics change.