AT&T has announced that its LaptopConnect subscribers will be granted free access to all of AT&T WiFi hotspots.

LaptopConnect is an AT&T service with which subscribers have fast internet access via a 3G connection. The service covers a large area of the United States, but has the drawback of using the same frequency as mobile phones, making it slower on some occasions.

Even though the decision to offer services that seem rather similar could sound funny, the telecom giant says that this is part of a plan to show its subscribers that the company wants to give them maximum choice over the type of network they use. The decision is based on the idea that some customers might want to migrate to a WiFi network as soon as they are in its coverage zone and benefit of its stability.

AT&T has more than 17,000 hotspots in the US, most of them being McDonalds stores and Starbucks outlets, but also a few airports.

The company will benefit of this move as much as the subscriber. 3G connections sometimes happen to work poorly indoors, where steel and concrete can block the signal. From the consumer’s point of view, this means a slower surfing experience. If a subscriber jumps to a WiFi connection when indoor, both he and the network benefit of this. The user has a constant connection to the internet, and the network has a less crowded band of frequency, making more room for users who have no other alternative than the 3G connection.

The migration from one network to the other will be very simple. As soon as a user approaches a WiFi hotspot, a notification message will pop-up on his or hers laptop screen, and then the AT&T Communication Manager would be used to connect to the hotspot.