Hijinks Inc.

I sold my iPhone. Yes, it’s true. But that’s not the insane part, the insane part is that I’m not planning on getting an iPhone 3G.

Not only is the monthly plan more expensive for the iPhone 3G, but I’d be paying for a service that I couldn’t use. There is no 3G coverage in Nebraska. At all.

A friend of mine who has connections at AT&T said that 3G was supposed to roll out this fall in Nebraska. If it does maybe I’ll reconsider.

Anyhow, I guess I’ll be switching back to an iPod touch for the time being.

Okay, even though I’m on a camping trip I’ve been using my iPhone during the car ride. Now my question is this, I have data roaming turned off, but is there still a chance AT&T might sock me extra for my data usage? Their website says that data coverage is provided in this area through partner coverage, but excessive usage may result in termination of your service or additional charges.

I guess my question is more along the lines of what constitutes excessive use?

Last Wednesday AT&T started offering free Wi-Fi for iPhone users at all Starbucks locations, all you needed to do was enter your cell phone number.

Thursday, intrepid hackers (okay, really just people of average intelligence) started talking about how you could access the free Wi-Fi just by changing your browsers user-agent to Mobile Safari and entering any old phone number, didn’t have to be a AT&T number, or even a cell number. Good times. I even parked outside a local Starbucks long enough to confirm this, it nearly ruined my street cred.

Today, AT&T flipped the kill switch on the free Wi-Fi. Though no official statement has been made, numerous people are reporting that it is no longer accessible even on the iPhone. Nice one AT&T!

There’s a good chance we’ll see the service back up and running soon, though likely featuring an upgraded authentication process.

Sweet mother, AT&T might be looking to suck just a little bit less by offering femtocells to end users for as little as $100. As a reluctant AT&T user I would be willing to drop the extra $100 to improve my cell reception around the house.

According to a report floating around the internet, AT&T has plans to move up to 7 million femtocells acquired from UK-based firm ip.access. Of course, as the story inevitably goes, nobody is admitting to anything.

Couple the rollout of femtocells with AT&T taking over wireless hot spots at all Starbucks locations (formerly managed by T-Mobile) and suddenly AT&T has a nice little framework for a fraction of the normal deployment costs.