As an update to our report that AT&T’s hotspots were now open to iPhone users, I did have the opportunity to try it out recently on a trip and am pleased to report that it works pretty well. Once connected, you are redirected in Safari to a page that asks for your phone number. An SMS is then sent to your phone with a link that, when clicked, grants you 24 hours worth of access.
My one quibble? There is a pretty quick inactivity timeout — so if you stop accessing the hotspot for more than a few minutes (say, to take a phone call - and Exchange Sync apparently is not enough activity), you will be forced to click that SMS link again to regain access. It’s not a show-stopper per se, but it could be avoided. I ran into the issue multiple times over a short (1 hour) stay.
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