Posted on 08/08/2010 11:06:46 AM PDT by thecodont
Reporting from San Francisco Housed in an old San Francisco warehouse, Four Barrel Coffee with its vintage record player, 53-year-old coffee roasting machine, tables hewn from recycled wood and wall of mounted boar heads calls one of the world's most wired cities home.
But don't expect to get an Internet connection there.
Coffee connoisseurs hooked on this roaster's beans won't find a working signal or even a power outlet. The uninitiated often try to plug into a fake one that owner Jeremy Tooker spray painted on the wall as a gag. "There are lots of marks on the drywall," Tooker said, laughing.
About 30 miles south in Palo Alto, the heart of Silicon Valley's technology industry, the Coupa Cafe offers some of the fastest Internet service in town. But even this popular hangout for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists bans Wi-Fi on weekends to make room for customers sans laptops.
"We had big parties or family groups who wanted to eat but had no room," said Jean Paul Coupal, who runs the cafe with his mother, Nancy. "They were getting upset about it. They felt the whole place was being taken over by techies."
Coffee shops were the retail pioneers of Wi-Fi, flipping the switch to lure customers. But now some owners are pulling the plug. They're finding that Wi-Fi freeloaders who camp out all day nursing a single cup of coffee are a drain on the bottom line. Others want to preserve a friendly vibe and keep their establishments from turning into "Matrix"-like zombie shacks where people type and don't talk.
That shift could gather steam now that free Wi-Fi is less of a perk after coffee giant Starbucks stopped charging for it last month.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Since I got a notebook computer with WiFi, I didn’t care if a place had WiFi or not. Now, I find I sometimes make decisions on where to dine based on whether they have WiFi. Since I usually dine alone, I admit I’m not the target audience for a lot of businesses and I doubt I would take my computer if I was dining with others.
But it is a plus in my view if they offer it and if they need to find a policy to keep “campers” (as waitresses refer to people who stay for hours and order practically nothing) that fits their business model, I’m fine with that.
I may stay at some places for several hours, it is never without compensation for the business and a gratuity for the waitress so I feel as if I am a fair customer. I’ve never had a business ask me to leave.
I used to live in a college town about 5 years ago where you couldn’t even get into the local Starbucks because people had been sitting there all day doing research for their master’s thesis. I stopped going there (I did my research at home, and I went there to have a cup of good coffee and see other human beings) and so did many other non-students.
However, as wifi has become more available, things seem to have settled down a bit. I don’t see the plague of students quite to the extent that I used to, and Starbucks has actually improved its lackluster menu, so maybe there are more paying guests turning up now.
There are thousands of books available for download, so the waits for digital versions aren't much worse, than for printed versions.
But only for the "poor" and "underprivileged" - the rest will pay a "tax".
If a business is paying $100 a month - that's about $3/day for high speed then I bet they are still making out.
Never been in a Starbucks in my life and never will. AFAIAC, Dunkin Donuts makes the best coffee. But, SB sure makes the $$.
“If a business is paying $100 a month - that’s about $3/day for high speed then I bet they are still making out.”
Hmmmm, that makes sense if they are using the wifi from outside, not taking tables that others can use, or alienating real customers with their cables.
I don't see why you couldn't do a digital version of the same thing. Let people open digital versions of the books, but limit the total simultaneous number to 5 or something.
Not bad. Too inconvenient for moochers, but adequate for checking email or some short term need. By doing that instead of rebooting, you don't aggravate the guy who logged on 30 seconds before reboot. I think instead of having the router reboot, I'd just give out 15 minute leases per MAC, and they expire after 15 minutes, and that particular MAC can't get a new lease for 5 minutes or something. Workable for someone who has a momentary need, discourages the sit-all-day moochers, and not unreasonably painful for a paying customer whose short-term task takes 16 minutes instead of 15.
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