Residents will have free access to the AT&T Wi-Fi service 24 hours a day beginning tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 27.

"We want to help residents in Southern California in any way that we can," said Denise Cunningham, vice president and general manager for AT&T in San Diego. "By enabling free Wi-Fi at hundreds of AT&T hot spot locations, we're hoping to provide families and friends with another way to stay connected — and to reconnect — throughout this difficult time."

Residents or travelers can use Wi-Fi-enabled devices, such as laptop computers, iPhones or personal digital assistants (PDAs) to connect to the Internet or corporate networks by using any of the AT&T Wi-Fi locations.

From e-mailing to instant messaging and getting news online, Wi-Fi customers will be able to continuously access the Internet via the designated hot spot locations, at no cost, through the coming weeks as many try to reconnect in the aftermath of the fires.

"Our commitment is to leverage whatever communications support that we can to aid families and residents affected by these fires," said Cunningham. "We welcome and invite anyone in need to use AT&T's Wi-Fi network in these hot spot locations — we are here to help." -AT&T