AT&T Wi-Fi auto-authentication available on iPhone OS 3.0
(Credit:
AT&T)
AT&T today announced it will support auto-authentication for iPhone OS 3.0 users connecting to AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots. Auto-authentication allows iPhone users to seamlessly switch from AT&T's 3G network to an AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spot without being prompted.
AT&T customers with qualifying iPhone data plans have unlimited access to the nation's largest Wi-Fi network, currently more than 20,000 U.S. AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots.
The new process eliminates the previous two-step authentication, making it easier and faster for iPhone customers to connect to AT&T Wi-Fi. Autoconnect is established once a customer connects their iPhone to an AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spot the first time.
This new auto-authentication process is available now to all existing iPhone and iPhone 3G customers using iPhone OS 3.0. Support for the iPhone 3G S will be available immediately after its launch on Friday. (Find more information about AT&T Wi-Fi hot spots at www.attwifi.com.) If you're not yet using iPhone OS 3.0, you may continue to access AT&T Wi-Fi using the current authentication method.
Find a list of AT&T Wi-Fi hot spots here.
I just don't get it. What was so complicated about launching Safari (which you likely would have been doing anyway), keying in your phone number, and then clicking the link in the SMS message?
While I appreciate the streamlined process, there was nothing "complicated" about the previous process.
On the old OS, I could connect to wifi, then start a VPN connection and that worked fine. But I can't do that with iPhone OS 3.0. The auto-login does not work.