Free WiFi iTunes downloads for iPhone owners in Starbucks – $200 free WiFi program bounty from iPhone World

Yes, it's been said before, but I just want to add my voice to the choir. Starbucks why lag behind everyone else in WiFi? Why should I need a Starbucks card and give out my personal info. I don't want a Starbucks card. Just get your corporate heads together on this one, simplify everyone's life, and do what you know is right .... JUST OFFER FREE WIRELESS!!! Starbucks blew my incentive to visit the stores after I bought a new iPhone 3-months ago.

I'm a hotspot operator and therefore have extensive background knowledge on how hotspots work, especially t-mobile's. Unfortunately, I'm telling you right now there is no way that this will ever work.

Here's why:

1) all hotspots (wifi networks that are secured with a login page) use the same type of security, and this security requires you to authenticate against a server to have full web access. The router giving out the wireless signal, will only allow you to browse any website if you've successfully logged in, and then only for as much time as the authentication server says you can be online.

2) IT IS VERY COMMON and nessecary for hotspot operators to allow certain websites/IPs to be spoken to without authentication, those are called "wall-gardened" or "white-listed" websites. This is a VERY STANDARD thing, and all they have done is add iTune's webstore's IP addresses to this list! Usually these websites include the operator's website (tmobile.com), the payment gateway (paypal, etc.) and some other partner websites like iTunes. These websites are "allowed" to be communicated with, without having to login/pay first in a very specific manner and usually only on specified ports!

3) Being able to get full web access would mean breaking/hacking the router entirely, through a feature that has always existed (white-listed websites), and getting full web acesss through this feature makes absolutely no sense anyway because you want to access ANY IP and not just the iTunes one.

Bottom line is, if you open up your iPhone browser, you will see a login page just the same as a laptop. It might look different because they'll detect your using a mobile device, but your iPhone (and I own one) is no different then any laptop out there. I'm just trying to save you guys some time because I already know this isn't a possibility.

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Pretty unlikely that (a) any person who is subject to US law would attempt to profit (even, $200) from abetting individuals in defrauding T-Mobile (who provide Starbucks WiFi) from their right to set fees for their service, or that (b) Apple, who won’t sign many carrier deals if it helps its customers circumvent the terms of the deals, would not exert strenuous efforts to block the bypass (which would also limit AT&T’s ability to sell ITS WiFi services).

Unlike the unlocking software, where Apple updates cannot actively attempt to break the unlocks (cuz unlocks are legal and it's YOUR phone), they could properly engage in software changes that would intentionally disable or report the existence of such hacks. Probably just be happy with trashing it.

Perhaps the Tooth Fairy will give you “free” WiFi.

Pretty unlikely that (a) any person who is subject to US law would attempt to profit (even, $200) from abetting individuals in defrauding T-Mobile (who provide Starbucks WiFi) from their right to set fees for their service, or that (b) Apple, who won't sign many carrier deals if it helps its customers circumvent the terms of the deals, would not exert strenuous efforts to block the bypass (which would also limit AT&T's ability to sell ITS WiFi services).

Perhaps the Tooth Fairy will give you "free" WiFi.

Very cool indeed!

That's actually what we're doing at Whisher, a piece of software for global free WiFi. Please check our site (we have releases for Mac, Linux and Windows) and hopefully very soon for the iPhone...let's see how our Mac developers handle this :-).