AT&T has announced that the company will now offer free WiFi for iPhone and BlackBerry owners at AT&T WiFi hotspots.

“AT&T knows Wi-Fi is hot, and FREE Wi-Fi is even hotter. Which is why FREE AT&T Wi-Fi access is now available for Apple iPhone at thousands of hotspots nationwide, including Starbucks. Users can relax and access music, email and web browsing services with their favorite blend in hand from the comfort of their nearest location. For information visit www.att.com/attwifi.”

If this sounds familiar it’s because AT&T has been announcing and pulling this on and off for the last six months. One weekend in early May, AT&T iPhone users noted that they could access free WiFi in Starbucks and Barnes and Noble stores. By Monday things had returned to normal and the presumed glitch was fixed. Fast forward a few days and AT&T announced that it was indeed planning to announce free WiFi for iPhoners.

All excited, users were disappointed when this plan was delayed indefinitely. Hopes were dashed when what looked like a deliberate launch took place in July. The AT&T website showed a whole page dedicated to the announcement and so, most were fairly certain it wouldn’t be yanked out from under users noses. The offer allowed iPhone customers access to 17,000 AT&T hotspots around the country including those in Starbucks Coffee stores, Barnes and Noble branches and various other locations such as over 800 restaurants as well as some universities, bookstores and supermarkets. Not long after, the site showed a message claiming the announcement was a mistake and pulled the page.

We don’t want to tempt fate by saying we’re not holding our breath for the offer to stick this time around, so we won’t. The announcement page has been up since Wednesday and has yet to pulled.

The deal does seem to be much more set-in-stone this time around, as WiFi access is also extended to BlackBerry users with unlimited data plans. In addition to the BlackBerry Bold, the Pearl 8120 and the 8820 will follow later this year, and AT&T said it plans to make the offer available to more mobile devices in the future.

"AT&T is committed to providing its customers with the best connectivity at the best value," said David Christopher, chief marketing officer of AT&T’s mobility business unit. "We have the industry’s leading lineup of smartphones, along with the nation’s largest Wi-Fi network. It only makes sense for us to bring these unique capabilities together for our customers."