Starbucks is the Stuckey’s of the 21st century. You arrive in a new town, jetlagged, disoriented. You need to reconnect with the world you know. You need familiarity. And caffeine. And wifi. Starbucks provides all of that. Now, in most major cities you can find a Starbucks by standing on any street corner and turning 270°, but thankfully there’s a free app that gives you a breakdown of every Starbucks in your area.

omcast, the cable and high-speed internet provider, is test marketing a public wifi program which allows subscribers to access the internet while away from their homes. Since this is a preliminary trial, there is no information on any expansion in NJ or other states, or if the service could be available to non-subscribers. Of course, certain cities have started their own initiatives to have wireless signals available everywhere—can a system exist where several companies are offering competing public wifi?

iPhone users may notice a text message from AT&T today. Although I haven’t yet received it (why are you dissing me, AT&T?), we’ve had reports that AT&T is announcing free WiFi access all across the U.S.:

AT&T Free Msg: Your Apple iPhone now has free AT&T Wi-Fi access at thousands of hotspots nationwide, including Starbucks*. For info, visit www.att.com/attwifi.

Being the investigative journalist I am, I did, indeed, visit AT&T’s site. There…