that rumor that iphone data plan includes att wifi and Passwords on the iPhone

I read it a few days ago on Digg, but it wasn't dugg that much. I would love for the rumor to be somewhat true, but I doubt it.

As rumor would have it, and perhaps this is why it was buried on Digg.com, was that the data plan that ATT had every iPhone user sign for, would include all the wifi hotspots they operate. Which at the moment, include a few less spots at UPS Stores (which I think you would have to be fairly needy to use generally, as there has never been space to set a laptop in those old mailbox etcetera stores), because UPS doesn't do that anymore. Apparently.

But anyway, ideally, you could be in Mickey D's, and the ATT wifi there would let you surf on your iPhone as you wait for your clownburger, or wash it down with fizzy water. Automagically. Because iPhones have the data plan, see? And its just being an iPhone would let it on the wireless broadband without thinking.

But that is not the way those hotspots work. They push a page to you, and ask you to sign in with a user name and password.
Which you can use, if you have such. I have such. I had such before the iPhone was officially announced, for my powerbook.
It is slightly awkward to fill in passwords on iPhones Safari, and you get the feeling your password is being announced to people peeping over your shoulder, as the keypads leap out at you.

Ironically, looking at these whiz bang apps from iPhoneDevCamp, which I think are a good start, to be kind, you notice that almost all of the webapps they are creating require you to Sign IN. With a password.

I sure would like to surf without showing my papers at every border crossing, and it certainly isn't anything I intend to do on my iPhone. Maybe some sort of keychain will come into being. Perhaps there already is a keychain of sort already in the phones... you need it to have your email pushed to you, for example. But logging in to every webpage you want to see is for the birds, besides being unnecessary, and a security risk to boot.

How about it ATT? How about just letting the iphones in on your hotspots without the hurdle of passwords and contractual agreements? Afraid someone would spoof an iPhone and use the sites for free?

In other words, That Data Plan you may be paying for somehow? I think that is merely for the EDGE network.