It worked , but I have to admit that I haven’t used it that much since then. It was kind of a hassle having to go through all the steps and took way too long to get connected (2 to 4 minutes!). So, my 3G envy continued though I dared not admit it to Jeb and PJ.
But it looks like my 3G envy may finally come to an end now that I’ve downloaded a excellent, new, free iPhone app called Easy Wi-Fi for AT&T by Devicescape. This exceptional little app makes getting the free WiFi a lightning fast and ridiculously simple process.
You should download this app while you can! Chances are pretty good that it’ll become either a paid app or AT&T will make Apple remove it from the App Store.
Here’s the walkthrough:
First, you have to set it up on your own WiFi connection BEFORE you go to Starbucks. When you launch the app for the first time, it will prompt you to enter your 10 digit phone number.
You’ll then go to the Settings screen where you can enter your cell number. I tapped on the “Operator Website” and also the “Register at Devicescape” prompts and didn’t get anything useful (Devicescpae really needs to create a decent landing page for their registration). Just enter your phone number and ignore everything else on this screen.
Entering your cell phone number is a snap and (even better) this is the only time you’ll ever have to enter it to get free WiFi! I’m pretty sure that the numbers are stored server-side with Devicescape, but they assure us that they only use our numbers to get us connected to the WiFi and will never call us or give them away.
Once I was done with the setup I rushed down the block to the local Starbucks and connected to the ATT WiFi hotspot. After connecting to the hotspot, I launched Easy Wi-Fi for AT&T and the interface couldn’t have been any simpler.
I tapped the large green Login button and it displayed the following screen for less than 20 seconds while it logged in with AT&T.
When the login process was completed I got a pleasant screen like this one confirming that I was now online.
I was amazed at how fast and simple this whole process was: connect to the WiFi hotspot, launch the app, hit the green button, and wait less than 20 seconds. It seemed to good to be true.
To confirm that I had a fully functioning WiFi connection I downloaded the free Urbanspoon app from the app store directly onto my iPhone.
I also successfully downloaded the Marketplace podcast onto my iPhone while waiting for my venti cafe Americano.
This app will not only have a permanent place on my iPhone, but it will also forever be on the primary screen (I currently have three). It won’t completely remove my 3G envy (I really, really want that always on broadband connection), but I highly recommend it to anyone with a first gen iPhone.
If I could get only one thing for the Christmas, I would love to see a similar iPhone app do the same thing for the eFreeWireless connections all over Broadripple and at my local YMCA.
