Free AT&T Wi-Fi Hotspot Hack
Posted on 17. Nov, 2008 in Hacks, iPhone
iPhone customers now have the ability to gain free access to AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots. This can really come in handy when you are not in a 3G coverage area. What AT&T does not tell you is that it is possible to use your laptop instead. This is pretty awesome for those times when you get stuck in an airport and want to play a few games to pass the time.
Before you get started, you will need the MAC address of your iPhone. From the Home Screen, tap Settings, then General and finally About. Scroll down to the WiFi Address, and write this down. It will be a 12-digit, hexadecimal set such as “00:23:FF:FF:00:00”
Now let’s get started.
1. Disable Wi-Fi on the laptop.
2. Enable Wi-Fi on the iPhone.
3. Locate the SSID “attwifi” and connect.
4. Start Safari on the iPhone and it will prompt you to enter your 10-digit phone number. AT&T will send an SMS message to the 10-digit number that you provide that contains a special link.
5. Wait for the SMS to arrive and tap the link. You should be browsing the web from the iPhone at that point.
6. Disable Wi-Fi on the iPhone. This is important. Don’t forget to do this.
7. Edit the properties of the network card in your laptop and enter the MAC address of the iPhone’s Wi-Fi card into the “Network Address” field of the laptop’s wireless adapter. This is located in a different place depending on your OS.
8. Enable Wi-Fi on the laptop, locate the SSID “attwifi” and connect.
If you entered the MAC address correctly in the network properties for the wireless network card in the laptop, you should be browsing the internet immediately. The hotspot will not prompt you for authentication because the MAC address from your iPhone has already been authenticated.
Now don’t get smart and think that you can get everyone in the coffee shop on the Internet using a single iPhone and a single MAC address. All MAC addresses on the same network must be unique. If you have duplicate MACs on the same network, the router will have now way to know how to route packets back to you. In simple terms, it won’t work so don’t try it.
This should be used as a way to get another device you own on the AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot, not your buddy’s. You are already paying for the iPhone service, so the fact you are using a different device to access the service is kind of a grey area, so don’t abuse it.