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BT to serve up Wi-Fi at Starbucks

BT and Starbucks have joined forces to offer wireless services at 650 cafes.

By Nicole Kobie, 20 Apr 2009 at 16:25

Starbucks will be offering Wi-Fi from BT starting this week, letting customers surf while they sip their lattes.

The new network will let the 4.6 million users of BT’s home broadband, as well as BT Openzone customers, access the web from 650 cafes across the UK and Ireland. The service can also be used by iPhone users on O2 contracts.

The roll out, which is set to finish by the end of the summer, will also be sued to support in-store operational systems, according to BT.

Chris Bruce, chief executive of BT Openzone, said in a statement: “Use of our Wi-Fi doubled last year and coffee shops are increasingly popular as a third place to work or log on to the internet.”

Coffee-lovers who aren’t BT customers will have to sign up and pay to use the service – or pop into Coffee Republic or Pret, which both offer free Wi-Fi with a purchase.

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