Between the FCC approving the use of the so-called ‘White Spaces’ and Cox Communications (Etilities Forum) getting into the wireless game, it seems that the communications industry is betting big on the future development of the wi-fi market.

AT&T (Etilities Forum) has certainly caught wind of this, as it announced yesterday its planned acquisition of hotspot provider Wayport for approximately $275 million.  The news follows AT&T’s announcement last week that all iPhone customers could now enjoy free wi-fi access at a large number of locations throughout the country.  I tested this out a couple days ago at Starbucks and it worked great.  However, my MacBook was not so lucky, and I had to pay $4 to be connected for 2 hours.

Well, there may be hope for a solution soon.  Ars Technica reports that AT&T will likely launch an iPhone “tethering” service soon.  This would allow your laptop or even your home computer to connect to the internet through your phone and its Internet connection.  Now, before you get too excited about this, it will likely not be a free service – the pricing has yet to be announced.

©2008-2009, Gallop Services, Inc. All rights reserved.