AT&T Notes Growing Wi-Fi Offloads

There were 106.9 million connections on AT&T's U.S. Wi-Fi network during Q3 2010, exceeding the total 85.5 million connections made during the entire year in 2009. Due to the rapid adoption of Wi-Fi enabled smartphones, Wi-Fi use has been increasing significantly each quarter, with third-quarter 2010 connections up more than 320 percent versus third-quarter 2009. AT&T now has 23,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in operation across the U.S..


AT&T said it will continue to expand the number of Wi-Fi hotzones in dense urban areas. During Q3, AT&T activated Wi-Fi hotzones in downtown Charlotte, N.C., and Chicago's Wrigleyville, near Wrigley Field. The company has reported better-than-expected customer response and usage at its first hotzone in New York City's Times Square.


"We chose to invest in expanding our Wi-Fi footprint and capabilities because early on, we recognized that Wi-Fi technology had numerous applications and far-reaching potential," said Angie Wiskocil, senior vice president, AT&T Wi-Fi Services. "In addition to smartphones, we saw that more and more devices like tablets, eReaders and netbooks were becoming Wi-Fi enabled and realized that Wi-Fi would play a major part in our ability to mobilize everything for our customers. Now, our Wi-Fi services are a significant asset for AT&T and for the consumers and businesses we serve.
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