Starbucks is now offering free Wi-Fi for everyone for all customers in its company-owned stores in the United States and Canada as a part of an ongoing commitment to enhancing customer service. No Starbucks card required, no username or password needed, no time limits, and unlimited usage. Starbucks is working with AT&T in the U.S. and Bell in Canada as its Wi-Fi providers.
Starbucks was one of the first chains to offer Wi-Fi, using T-Mobile some years ago. Customers were allowed 2 hours of free Wi-Fi access provided with use with a Starbucks Card to login.
So much daily business is done currently within the walls of a Starbucks with a coffee in hand and to have free Wi-Fi seems fantastic. However, is it safe?
As with other public Wi-Fi networks, there are risks involved with connecting to public hotspots. iPads do not have any file/folder sharing possibilities (without Jailbreaking) by default and thus have a small security advantage over laptop users.
As for web surfing it isn’t a big deal (to me) to surf the web, in a general sense. However, be cautious to entering in usernames, passwords, credit card info, etc. to websites that are not encrypted. As a general “rule of thumb” you can tell by looking at the website address and if it starts with an “https” instead of “http.” However, there are sites where you enter login information on a website starting with “http” that submits securely to “https” and that is fine as well. As always, use caution when on a public Wi-Fi.
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