Digital Trends

Coffee chain Starbucks has picked AT&T to run its Wi-Fi hotspot networking, eschewing its deal with T-Mobile that's been in place since 2001.

In a major shakeup in the Wi-Fi hotspot business, coffee giant Starbucks has picked AT&T to operate its network of more than 7,000 Wi-Fi hotspots, turning its back on a deal it's had with T-Mobile (and, before that, MobilStar) since 2001. The deal turns AT&T in a mammoth Wi-Fi hot spot operator: the company already runs nearly 9,000 hotspots in McDonalds restaurants and other locations; the addition of Starbucks' locations gives the network more than 15,000 hotspots.

As part of the deal, all Starbucks Card holders will be eligible to receive up to 2 hours of free Wi-Fi service a day. After that, an additional two hours of Wi-Fi access wil cost $3.99. Starbucks Cards are a point-of-sale swipe card system; presumably, some purchase will be necessary to activate the free two hours of service. Non card-holders will be able to purchase Wi-Fi access for $20 a month—however, many users won't have to, since Wi-Fi access will be free for Starbucks employees and their partners (estimated at around 100,000 people) as well as 12 million AT&T customers who subscribe to AT&T DSL services.

"Now more than ever, Starbucks is focused on the in-store experience for our customers," said Starbucks' CTO Chris Bruzzo, in a statement. "As we continue to build our technology offerings in ways that both enhance and expand the Starbucks Experience for our customers, we made a strategic decision to expand our existing relationship with our longtime technology partner AT&T to include consumer Wi-Fi."