WBRZ - Baton Rouge

Starbucks Corp. says it will begin offering unlimited free Wi-Fi at all of its company-operated U.S. locations next month.

The free wireless Internet will be available on July 1 at about 6,700 locations.

The coffee house had previously offered two free hours of Web access each day to registered customers.

Now, access won't require a Starbucks loyalty card.

After that, consumers at the Seattle chain were charged a small fee.

The announcement was made Monday by CEO Howard Schultz who was speaking at a conference in New York.