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The lawsuit that has only recently come to light, has seemingly gone away just as quickly. I am of course referring to the recent announcement that T-Mobile was suing Starbucks claiming “breach of contract” and “unfair competition” in regards to how they let AT&T quickly move in and take over and begin promoting their services.

According to reports T-Mobile, along with Starbucks and AT&T have reached a “memorandum of understanding” in an attempt to resolve their issues. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, however Starbucks spokeswoman Stacey Krum stated that they are “committed to providing a high quality WiFi experience for customers, including Starbucks Rewards Customers, at Starbucks locations nationwide.”

Which makes it sound like nothing will be changing, at least on the customer side, after all some of the new programs including the 2-free hours per day from AT&T is part of the Starbucks Rewards program. I am glad to see an issue get resolved, especially quickly, lets just hope that does not mean my free Wi-Fi is going away.

Read [CNN Money] Via [Starbucks Gossip]

T-Mobile has decided to sue Starbucks over their recent agreement with AT&T to begin providing free Wi-Fi. The lawsuit claims that both Starbucks and AT&T are not living up to their end of the agreement dealing with the switchover. They are claiming “breach of contract” and “unfair competition” and seeking an unspecified amount of damages.

“Starbucks and AT&T ... secretly developed a promotional plan under which they would offer ‘free’ AT&T/Starbucks Wi-Fi even in stores” that were still reliant on T-Mobile’s infrastructure, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit goes on to claim that “to date, only two markets—the San Antonio, Texas, and Bakersfield, California, markets—have been transitioned from T-Mobile to AT&T.” However we have used a few and also seen reports from many other Starbucks locations now offering AT&T Wi-Fi. While T-Mobile is understandably upset, the agreement that the stores would be converted “on a market-to-market basis” leaves a great deal of judgment room. It looks like this one could get messy.

Read [Reuters]

Starbucks and AT&T have officially begun offering free Wi-Fi, and just about anyone will be able to use this now free service. Beginning today, customers who get a Starbucks reloadable card, register for the Starbucks Rewards Card program and then use the card at least one time a month will get two free consecutive hours of free wireless goodness everyday. Also, as an added bonus, new card members will also receive a free drink!

Of course we all know that by Starbucks offering us free Wi-Fi, that just means we are going to sit in the store longer and that means we will most likely get more beverages, however it is nice to see that someone else is understanding that by giving something away for free does not always mean lost revenue. Well with that, I think its time to grab my Starbucks Card, (that I made sure I added some money to yesterday in anticipation) and head on over to my local shop.

Sign Up [Starbucks and AT&T] Read [USA Today] Via [Starbucks Gossip]

It was way back in February when we first learned that AT&T was beginning the process of taking over the Wi-Fi offering at Starbucks. With that announcement came the word that as long as you have a Starbucks gift card that you are actively using you will be able to receive two free consecutive hours of Wi-Fi a day. Well since then we have seen lots of Wi-Fi coming and going, sometimes with stories about the offers and sometimes it was related to the access being live. Well it turns out that two free hour offering is just about ready to go live.

According to Dave Zatz:

“the system was configured a few days ago and they’ve confirmed it works. I saw the back of the store memo and the manager says they’ve got signage behind the counter ready to go in conjunction with the June 3rd launch.”

And, just in case you have something against using the Starbucks card, those two hours of Wi-Fi will set you back just $3.99. In addition to this offer, those Laptop Connect customers are also able to get free Wi-Fi at Starbucks locations as well. Sadly this offer has no mention of whether that free iPhone Wi-Fi offer will be returning, but with the launch rumored to take effect tomorrow, we will not have to wait long to find out. Hopefully this roll-out will be for all Starbucks locations, however its possible that it may be a limited roll-out on an area by area basis.

Read [Zatz Not Funny] Via [jkOnTheRun]

Once again we are back on the AT&T free Wi-Fi offer, however in a refreshing twist (except for this mention) it has nothing to do with an iPhone. In fact this latest offer is giving all Laptop Connect customers, who are on a service plan of $60 or higher free access to Wi-Fi hotspots at any of AT&T’s 17,000 plus hotspots. The best news is that it is effective beginning today, May 20, 2008.

Effective tomorrow, May 20th, the long-awaited FREE WiFi Access to over 17,000 WiFi locations throughout the U.S. launches for Laptop Connect Customers with plans $60 or higher. This exciting new feature will allow customers unlimited access to over 17,000 WiFi locations at no extra charge including locations in Starbucks and McDonalds. Customers will need three things for this free access:

* A laptop card. FREE WiFi for Smartphones is not available yet, but will be later in 2008.
* The latest version of Communication Manager (version 6.8). Once loaded this version will automatically log onto AT&T hotspots.
* A Laptop Connect plan of $60 or greater.

Also, in addition to the Laptop Connect customers, all smartphone users will also be able to get free the same free Wi-Fi offer, however this will not be available till later in the year. Lets hope the free offer for smartphone users comes sooner than later, and also that this offer stays around.

Via [Boy Genius Report]

The on again and off again free Wi-Fi offer that AT&T will begin rolling out for iPhone customers will still be coming, at least sometime in the future. With some recent teasing, the roll out had been planned to go live on May 15, but was again delayed. At this point the reasons why it has gone on and off is just a mystery, maybe they messed up and maybe they were trying to test out the service on a stealth level and did not count on the blogosphere making it quite so public. Anyway, from a recently leaked AT&T internal memo, it seems they are not really worried because they have not yet officially announced anything.

“The iPhone Wi-Fi offer that was scheduled to launch today has been canceled. Nothing has been announced by the company to our customers and will not impact existing customers. Additional communication will be provided if the status the project changes.”

Via [Boy Genius Report]

It turns out that AT&T is making an attempt at keeping their free Wi-Fi offering a secret. Even though its long past the secret part, thanks to the appearance and disappearance act that is has been putting on recently. According to a statement from AT&T they offered up an official “no comment” about the situation, but they also stated that the issues that have come up were nothing more than “human error.” Which based on that it would be pretty safe to say that its just a matter of time before it goes live for real, until then we can only hope the same human that has been making those errors will continue, we love our free Wi-Fi.

Read [New York Times] Via [Gizmodo]

Remember back in February, when we told you that AT&T and Starbucks struck a deal for free Wi-Fi in Starbucks stores, effectively leaving T-Mobile out to dry? Today, we have learned, that the telecom and coffee giant are determined to put that deal into effect.

Starting May 1, qualifying AT&T customers will be able to get free Wi-Fi in 7,000 Starbucks shops around the United States. What does “qualifying” mean, you ask? It means the free Wi-Fi is available for anybody who is paying for any one of AT&T’s three broadband internet packages, any of the small business packages AT&T offers, or any U-verse package.

That sounds excellent, as long as you use AT&T internet, but others will still have to wait a while longer. The remaining customers will be able to get access sometime during the year, as AT&T and Starbucks still plan to continue the rollout for other customers on a market-to-market basis. Once your local store has been converted, you will be given a mix or free and paid options to connect.

Read [Yahoo! Finance]

Starbucks is furthering their partnering with Apple to offer customers free music by announcing the launch of “Pick of the Week.” At more than 7,000 Starbucks locations, the new promotional program provides customers a “world-class digital discovery experience”. Every Tuesday, Pick of the Week download cards will be handed out to coffee drinkers giving them the opportunity to hop online and download a complimentary song or music video from iTunes. Artists include Carly Simon, Duffy, Counting Crows, Adele, Sia, and Hilary McRae to name a few. Each song and music video will be handpicked by the Starbucks Entertainment team and iTunes. Once handed out, each download card will have an expiration of 60 days. The first free song to be available for download is the Counting Crows’ “Washington Square.”

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Its a sad day for T-Mobile as they are in the first stages of being pushed out of Starbucks. The official announcement about AT&T moving in and replacing the current T-Mobile wireless service was made back in early February and as of then it was just left as; the rollout will begin in the spring. Well spring has sprung and the first Starbucks location has just been switched over. The lucky location was in San Antonio, and it is located just a little over 4 miles from the corporate headquarters of AT&T on South Broadway Road.

Hopefully, (speaking as an AT&T customer) the roll-out will continue to move along at a steady rate, of course it will take some time to hit everywhere. Starbucks currently has over 700 locations that will be affected by the switch over. Now that the transition has begun we can only hope the current T-Mobile customers will get the continued access that was promised.

Via [Engadget]