AT&T announced today that it is boosting speeds for some of its AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet customers and offering AT&T broadband customers access to free Wi-Fi hotspots across the country. AT&T says that more than 10 million of its AT&T Broadband subscribers will soon have free unlimited access to its nationwide Wi-Fi network. AT&T figures that is a cost savings of $60 annually for its broadband customers and a savings of nearly $240 annually for customers who don"t have AT&T broadband. The free Wi-Fi offer will be available to both new and existing subscribers who have any of AT&T"s broadband services with downstream speeds of 1.5 Mbps, 3.0 Mbps, or 6 Mbps.
AT&T also announced that it was boosting bandwidth choices for its U-verse customers to 10 Mbps. Millions of AT&T subscribers will be able to upgrade to data plans with 10 Mbps downstream and 1.5 Mbps upstream. Customers who upgrade to the new U-verse 10 Mbps plan will also get the free Wi-Fi access in the U.S. as well. AT&T claims the largest broadband network in the United States with over 13.8 million broadband lines in service as of Q3 2007. AT&T says its U-Verse service is available in millions of homes in 12 different states right now. With the future of municipal Wi-Fi access questionable, this offer from AT&T may be the best chance of getting free Wi-Fi Internet users get.