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AT&T: 300 Million Wi-Fi Connections in Q3
As Wi-Fi Offloading Truly Takes Off
Over the last few years AT&T has been working hard to offload wireless network customers to their growing list of city hotzones, in addition to their significant network of more than 29,000 retail Wi-Fi hotspots. This week AT&T gave a glimpse (in handy pdf infographic form for those with fleeting attention spans) noting they saw 301.9 million Wi-Fi connections in the third quarter, or about 37 connections per second. Those connections are almost tripling to the tune of 282% year over year, and actual data carried over the AT&T Wi-Fi network doubled since last year. With AT&T imposing low caps and $10 per gigabyte overages after killing unlimited smartphone data plans last summer, that kind of growth is not particularly surprising.
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n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY

n2jtx

Member

Just Wait!

Wait until AT&T figures out a way to charge you for any and all WiFi usage on your smartphone, even from WiFi spots they do not control. Simply stick a little meter into the device that tracks all data usage, forward that to the mother ship which in turn will send you a bill. After all, if AT&T assumes they continue to own your iPhone well after it is paid off (by refusing to unlock it), why would it seem so absurd them someday charging for all the data that passes through it regardless of the communication method?

IPPlanMan
Holy Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC

IPPlanMan

Member

Re: Just Wait!

Couldn't agree more....

AT&T has never done anything to actually save anyone money...
25139889 (banned)
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH

25139889 (banned)

Member

Re: Just Wait!

they do if it saves them $$$ and they are.
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd to n2jtx

Premium Member

to n2jtx
would make sense, if someone has one of those micro cells they can plug into their cable modem they do not get a discount on calls even though its using their home internet as its backfeed. and the cost in cell service to the company is not the switching(which a femetocell still has to go to at some point) but the tower and the backfeed.

MovieLover76
join:2009-09-11
Cherry Hill, NJ
(Software) pfSense
Asus RT-AC68
Asus RT-AC66

MovieLover76 to n2jtx

Member

to n2jtx
Charging for AT&T wifi usage could possibly be charged at some point, after all it's still AT&T's hardware and bandwidth providing internet access, but I think we're being purposely melodramatic when you say they would charge for wifi usage from hotspots they don't own is nonsense, their is no basis for the charge.
Note that even though microcells do still charge for minutes AT&T is still providing server they have to process and terminate the calls, which is by far the costliest part of cellular voice communications, not the bandwidth from the tower to the cell phone.

I hate AT&T but lets not be hyperbolic on purpose.
mmay149q
Premium Member
join:2009-03-05
Dallas, TX

mmay149q

Premium Member

Re: Just Wait!

said by MovieLover76:

I think we're being purposely melodramatic when you say they would charge for wifi usage from hotspots they don't own is nonsense, their is no basis for the charge.

How can you not see it with a lot of carriers now capping home service with per GB overages? You think that once all carriers are capping for service on all platforms that AT&T is just going to pay that for us on our behalf? Nah, the original response to this post is pretty accurate to our technological future of the internet, and it's just a matter of time before it happens...

Matt
25139889 (banned)
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH

25139889 (banned)

Member

Re: Just Wait!

moving your internet from their towers to the hotzones costs them LESS than if you were still on a tower. they won't charge for the hotzones anytime soon- if at any. It keeps their network from slowing down and allows you to achieving higher speeds without doing anything really just putting your phone on WiFi.
mmay149q
Premium Member
join:2009-03-05
Dallas, TX

mmay149q

Premium Member

Re: Just Wait!

So if your packets from the hotzone goes over the cap limit you think that the place providing you the hotspot isn't going to charge you? Of course they will, WiFi will be free with a minimum $X amount charge, otherwise you'll have to pay $9.99 for 2 hours and only 400mb of usage (of course this is an example and your credit card will be charged for overages) or etc.

Either way it's like what I said up top, you're going to end up paying for it no matter what, hell it could even be something as small as Starbucks charging everyone a .10 cents Internet usage fee on all purchases for example or raising the prices of the products instead to cover those costs and appeal to America's "I want all I can eat for free" mentality (note with that I'm not saying I agree with caps and overages, just the best way I found to describe it) whether it's a direct charge to you, or a non-direct charge by higher prices, either way you're paying it.

It works the same way as the economy does, the government spends more money on wars overseas, so then the more spending we have and the more deficits we have, and higher debt we procure, the more we as the people of the country are indirectly taxed with higher prices, and directly taxed with more taxes.

Matt

jtchadwell
@rr.com

jtchadwell

Anon

lol

So many haters of atandt on here its wrong and sickening.

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT

SimbaSeven

Member

Re: lol

said by jtchadwell :

So many haters of atandt on here its wrong and sickening.

Well, they do have an awful track record of screwing customers over.
pabster
join:2001-12-09
Waterloo, IA

pabster

Member

Re: lol

...As do Verizon, and all the other carriers. It's called business.

alg
Passionately apathetic
Premium Member
join:2001-04-10
Houston, TX

alg to jtchadwell

Premium Member

to jtchadwell
said by jtchadwell :

So many haters of atandt on here its wrong and sickening.

Yeah, it's like it's required to hate on ATT to be a member around here. Not saying that they're perfect but people spew so much FUD about them it's hilarious.

David
Premium Member
join:2002-05-30
Granite City, IL

David

Premium Member

Re: lol

said by alg:

Yeah, it's like it's required to hate on ATT to be a member around here. Not saying that they're perfect but people spew so much FUD about them it's hilarious.

I hear it's the new "in" thing to do now. They even waste my time with e-mails like this.

Put it in forwarded so I can copy and paste it...


----- Forwarded Message ----
From: (Redacted)*****7@sbcglobal.net
To: helprequest@sbcglobal.net
Sent: Tue, October 25, 2011 7:21:58 PM
Subject: You guys suck!

Haven't you found a new career yet? I hear mcDonalds is hiring. AT&T is terrible, just thought you should know.

Figured i would let you know
maurice

P.S> I would be shocked if you guys knew how to do anything right.

P.P>S I don't expect a reply.




Selenia
Gentoo Convert
Premium Member
join:2006-09-22
Fort Smith, AR

Selenia

Premium Member

Good job, AT&T

This is obviously one of the better business decisions they have made. Network strain is not the only thing this helps with in the age of data hungry cellphones. They help with spectrum congestion as the same public frequency can be reused over and over, taking clusters of phones off the network and clearing the airwaves. They can also be deployed much faster and cheaper than adding cell sites to handle the users. No regulatory red tape driven by people who fear cell waves fry their brains(it was more likely all those drugs). Lower setup cost than even the labor required to setup/upgrade cell sites. AT&T is stable for me and may get more stable for others for whom it isn't, quicker than upgrades could happen, especially with more and more phones scanning for open spots. Calls were easy for most the carriers back in the day. Data has presented new challenges in the smartphone age.
Krellan
join:2001-06-06
Castro Valley, CA

Krellan

Member

iOS 5 connects to AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots automatically now

I wonder if part of it is due to the new feature in iOS 5 for AT&T iPhone (and I assume iPad also): it now bypasses the login screen, and even bypasses the "select a network" screen, if you are near an AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot! Just looked down at my phone and it was connected to a Wi-Fi network which I had never selected before, and certainly wasn't in my "known networks" list.

Apple and AT&T must have arranged some kind of deal to preseed iOS 5 with their Wi-Fi hotspots, because to my knowledge, no other Wi-Fi network has this kind of special treatment in iOS. I kind of don't like how it automatically connects behind my back (can't wait for hackers to spoof the ESSID of "attwifi"), but this is the new default. At first I wondered where the AT&T hotspot was, but looked around, and sure enough, there was a Starbucks a few doors down. Great range, the network extends well outside the store.

And, a random thought: Too bad AT&T didn't keep their payphone network alive. Pay phones, with DSL service added to the phone line, would have made ideal AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots, as they used to be ubiquitous in just about every populated area.