Originally, this question was going to involve how often you bring a laptop to coffee shops, but when I discussed it with our own Jason Chen, he revealed to me that he always wondered what people do when they inevitably have to go to the bathroom. Immediately I realised that was a far more entertaining and thought provoking angle. Seriously--what do you do when you have a laptop open and you have had multiple cups of coffee? Do you pack everything up and bring it in the bathroom with you? Do you take a chance and leave it sitting on the table? Or do you simply wait until you are finished working?

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One of the only few things going for getting an iPhone on Telstra, especially in light of their terrible data packages, was the inclusion of free Wi-Fi at their hotspots around the country. But now that hotspot network looks to be a few locations fewer with the announcement that Starbucks is closing 61 of their 84 stores.

Because not every store had Wi-Fi before the closures, this probably won't effect too many people. Unless you live in Canberra that is, where it's likely that all three Wi-Fi enabled Starbucks stores will close.

The guys over at ZDnet got into the nitty gritty of the situation, and although there are a lot of unknown factors still involved around exactly which Starbucks stores will be closing, the loss of any free Wi-Fi hotspot is a sad day for Gizmodians around the country. Hopefully Telstra will be looking to expand their 1000+ network of hotspots in light of the Starbucks move. And hopefully they'll make them free to everyone. Not holding our breath, though...

[ZDnet via Lifehacker AU]

Damn it AT&T, stop pulling this crap. Not only is the AT&T page proclaiming the good news down, Om got confirmation from AT&T that free iPhone Wi-Fi at Starbucks is not the droids you are looking for:

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It's been a saga of the on again, off again, on again, off again type, but it looks like AT&T's free Wi-Fi hotspot access is live at last. 17,000 sites across the US are available to iPhone users, including the fabled Starbucks sites. According to AT&T's website, which also offers a hotspot locator tool, AT&T knows "Wi-Fi is hot, and free Wi-Fi even hotter, which is why we are proud to offer iPhone customers free access to the nation's largest Wi-Fi hotspot network." Interesting... after all the shenanigans, it looks more like AT&T thinks Wi-Fi is just "lukewarm", or maybe "tepid." But at least it's finally come good. UPDATE: Well it looks like Wi-Fi isn't here quite yet. AT&T posted the info by accident and made a fail. [AT&T via MacRumors]

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Remember the T-Mobile vs Starbucks lawsuit over the free AT&T Wi-Fi, because the former said the latter broke their exclusive contract? Yeah, me neither, but apparently it has been settled: "T-Mobile, AT&T and Starbucks have entered into a memorandum... Read More »

T-Mobile is suing Starbucks over its free Wi-Fi from AT&T. The gist is that Starbucks and AT&T are promoting free Wi-Fi in markets where T-Mobile still has the exclusive right to "sell, market and promote its services" since the... Read More »

Just like we told you yesterday, the Starbucks free Wi-Fi program with AT&T is officially a go today. If you go to sign up for a Starbucks card, you get the option of with or without Wi-Fi. As long as you use the prepaid card once a month, you get two hours of free Wi-Fi a day. Welcome to 2008, Starbucks.

AU: US only at the moment, I'm afraid...

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Our friend and Starbucks addict Dave Zatz says that Starbucks' long-overdue free Wi-Fi is officially launching tomorrow. Info comes from the manager of his usual haunt, who gave him a peek at the store memo and signage, though he... Read More »

Originally free for its U-Verse subscribers, AT&T is now making all of its Wi-Fi hotspots free for subscribers to its LaptopConnect mobile broadband service. Now you won't have to waste precious chunks of your allotted 5GB a month anytime you're... Read More »

All AT&T's flip-flopping between offering free wireless at Starbucks and then taking it away—turns out it was some peon screwing up after all. A spokesperson for the company told the New York Times that the confusion was due to a "human error." But the day when iPhone users can definitively access the internet while sipping on frappuccinos will come, the PR flack assures, AT&T is just refusing to say when. Oh, come off it, AT&T. The cat's out of the bag already, you might as well roll out the service now. I'm sure there will be plenty of secrets you can accidentally release before deadline in the future. [New York Times]

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