AT&T muffs free iPhone Wi-Fi offer again

For the second time in the last two months, AT&T has mistakenly announced free access for iPhone owners to its 17,000 wireless hot spots.

The wireless operator posted a notice of the free access on its Web site early Friday on a page trumpeting its Wi-Fi network.

"AT&T offers free Wi-Fi access to iPhone customers in our network of over 17,000 Wi-Fi hot spots, including Starbucks," the notice read. "Locate the AT&T Wi-Fi hot spots in cafes, bookstores, airports, hotels and universities in your area or search for a Starbucks location near you."

By noon EDT, however, the page had been pulled. Attempts to access it returned an "Error 404 -- Not Found" message.

AT&T spokesman Wes Warnock confirmed the mistake. "The page was pushed live in error and has since been removed," he said in an e-mail.

The on-again, off-again snafu Friday was a repeat blunder of one in early May, when AT&T's Web site posted information that said iPhone owners could connect to the company's public hot spots, most of which are located in Starbucks stores. Later that same day, however, AT&T yanked the information from its site.

Warnock declined to say when iPhone owners would be able to use AT&T hot spots. "Wi-Fi is a real differentiator for AT&T, and it is our intention to make it available to as many customers as possible, but we have no announcement at this time," he added.

AT&T is Apple's exclusive mobile carrier partner in the U.S.

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