Starbucks to Offer Free Wi-Fi, Exclusive Online Content

It may cost you $4 for a latte at Starbucks, but as of July 1, you can at least enjoy free, unlimited Wi-Fi.

The announcement of the free Wi-Fi program was made this morning by Starbucks CEO Howard Schulz at the Wired conference in New York City.

The coffee giant was one of the first to make Wi-Fi available in its stores, but only offered free Internet access to customers with an AT&T account or a registered Starbucks card. All other Starbucks customers were charged $3.99 for two hours of service. The new program will allow all customers to connect to its Wi-Fi network for free, without a time limit or having to register for an account.

The company will also launch the Starbucks Digital Network, a network developed with Yahoo! that will offer free, unrestricted access to Starbucks-exclusive content and paid sites and services such as WSJ.com. With a growing number of companies dropping Internet access fees, including Panera Bread and McDonald’s, Starbucks hopes free offerings will be enough to entice websurfing patrons.

Sounds cool but would the Starbucks Digital Network be enough of a draw for you?