T-Mobile's Elusive Starbucks Exclusive
T-Mobile placed a large bet on Wi-Fi when it bought Mobilestar. They’ve managed to build the largest commercial Wi-Fi network through their deal with Starbucks. But is their exclusivity getting them anything? Scott Rafer of WiFinder points out that almost every Starbucks in San Francisco usually has a lower cost alternative network available. At the moment this a SF only phenomena, but could easily spread as Wi-Fi continues to catch on. Hopefully this will force T-Mobile to lower its prices and look more carefully at bundling Wi-Fi service with its mobile phone service. T-Mobile is blowing its Wi-Fi lead by not bundling the Wi-Fi service with their voice plans. By making Wi-Fi a $10-20 month option with a voice plan T-Mobile is likely to get a lot more subscribers that at $30 and $60 charged to a separate bill.
