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In a recent announcement, AT&T said that its LaptopConnect customers, who pay USD 60 or more a month for wide-area wireless data connections, will also be able to access more than 17,000 AT&T Wi-Fi hot spots in the United States for free. Users can access Wi-Fi at nearly 7,000 participating Starbucks locations, around 9,500 McDonald’s stores as well as thousands more AT&T Wi-Fi locations, including restaurants, airports and hotels.

AT&T LaptopConnect is a service that relies upon the company's wireless network to keep customers connected to e-mail, the Internet and business applications almost anywhere they can make a phone call. Through it, customers install a LaptopConnect card in their laptop computers.

According to AT&T, Qualifying LaptopConnect customers would now automatically receive a pop-up message alerting them to Wi-Fi availability when in range of an AT&T hot spot. At that point, customers who have downloaded the latest AT&T Communication Manager software to their laptop PC just need to click Connect to access the Wi-Fi connectivity.

"The combination of the nation’s largest wireless and Wi-Fi networks is unbeatable," said Michael Woodward, vice president, Business Mobility Products for AT&T’s wireless unit. "It’s the ultimate in mobility for laptops — AT&T’s wireless network plus more than 17,000 Wi-Fi locations."

When not in a hot spot, AT&T LaptopConnect cards operate on AT&T’s wireless network, which provides DSL-like speeds on the company’s 3G network in more than 275 markets in the U.S., reaching nearly 350 markets by year end, claimed the company.

AT&T’s wireless network also offers data connectivity across AT&T’s EDGE network that covers more than 13,000 cities and towns and some 40,000 miles of major highways. Internationally, AT&T can offer customers data access in more than 145 countries and 3G roaming in 60 countries.