Amazing post. You left me, a fan of coffee-shop wi-fi from time to time…. with a much different perspective. Thanks!

Do you want to pay $59.99 a month for my happiness too? =)

Great post!
Taylor

I stopped going to coffee houses about six months ago for a few reasons. 1, the WiFi speeds always sucked because assholes would download huge files or play online games (wtf?), 2, anyone there wanted to talk and not actually work and 3, come the fuck on, laptops are out of place in a coffee shop. Need WiFi for you smartphone? Cool. But not laptops.

I now try to get my reading in when I stop in at coffee shops. No longer than an hour, and I always buy 1-2 drinks plus a pastry.

Lucky you to be able to afford $59.99 a month for a Sprint MiFi card! Personally, I’d rather have free wi-fi in cafes and pay the extra they add into the price of the coffee on a per-visit basis. That way I can have my “free” wi-fi when I can afford it.

My pet peeve is when everyone in the cafe is “working” and the cafe is quieter than a library, causing hostile stares if I happen to be out with a friend for coffee and conversation. I like to socialize in cafes, even if I am connected online and having lunch at the same time.

I agree with this 100%. I can’t stand it when I am unable to find a seat or even stand in line because of similar things to the above Family Guy sketch.

Places like this should give a free 20-45 minutes or so and then charge afterwards. Why? Because most normal people should only take 20-45 minutes to finish a drink while reading a newspaper/book/having a discussion, TOPS.

After that, in order to combat the “hanging out for 8 hours to get free wifi” problem, they should charge in 30 minute blocks. (an hour is just too long to charge for all at once.. they could offer a discount for purchasing more time in a bundle)

The caveat is that they need to make the cost.. well.. make sense. I can’t count the number of times where I gave up and just tethered my phone to my laptop because there is no way that an hour’s worth of internet is worth $10 (I’m looking at you, MSP airport!). I’d rather have slow speed than waste that kind of money.

The cost for shops to offer this service can give them such a huge profit margin even if they only charged $1 for 30 minutes. Get some easy profit and keep the annoying people from stealing all the seats!

Greetings,

Won’t give you a bunch of flak;), but I will disagree.

The whole reason free WiFi exists is that it does pull people into a coffee shop. Yes, there are those that abuse its availability; and there are ways of dealing with it. One of the reasons I enjoy coffee shops is that, for the $4-6 I’ll spend, I can benefit from being ‘out of the office’, and still tie into the internet for an hour or two. I also use them regularly for meetings…which often benefit from WiFi availability.

Remove WiFi? Simply less reason to even go. If someone goes, once a day, M-F, 50 wks a years, and spends $5/day, that’s $1,250 in revenue. If you frequent the same couple shops routinely, not counting guests that may be meeting you, that’s reason enough to offer it. Of course, if people ‘abuse’ the service you’re offering, no different than homeless odorizing a place or trashing restrooms, there are costs you need to manage as well.

There are pros and cons, but I believe free coffee shop WiFi is a better all-round winner than not.

Maybe people who are using Facebook/iTunes/entertainment/etc. buy more stuff at Starbucks while they occupy a table compared to someone who is doing business work. It wouldn’t surprise me.

If one really needed to work outside of the office, that person would probably dish out $60 a month for MiFi. Unless of course that person was a really just a cheapskate, and cheapskates probably aren’t going to be buying multiple lattes or overpriced pastries.

The math probably doesn’t pan out either — If you spent $7 each time you worked at Starbucks, just so you could use the Wi-Fi, then after 8 times (twice a week) you’re spending more on free wi-fi than paying for a more secure and mobile MiFi card subscription.

For the most part I agree with you. And I get annoyed that there’s never an open table at Starbucks. Then I think about the small franchise coffee/waffle shop in my suburban NJ town where I spend a few of my weekday mornings working. I can sit there from 8:30 – 10:30 am typing away on my laptop, drinking some organic coffee and only see about 15 people come in for coffee, most of them ordering to-go. There are 6-7 of us working and ordering (non-free) refills. A handful of tables are still available. Surpringly, their traffic comes mostly at lunch time, so they’ve posted a notice in the shop that “kindly asks” the folks who use their wi-fi to work to not do so during their business peak hours of 11:30 – 2. Seems like a happy medium.

JT: A question – Would you buy your coffee anyway? Then why wouldn’t you just take it somewhere more fun than a coffee shop to work? Coffee shop makes money, you get a tan! :)

Reading the other posts, and traveling in/out of congested areas, what bears mentioning is that this problem is predominantly (in my view) a major city-interior concern. Even in downtown Ann Arbor, where this has been a topic, honestly, I’ve yet to ‘not’ find a seat at a downtown coffee shop, even with the coeds in town. Of course, I generally avoid lunch hours, too.

For the ban-laptop crowd, where do you draw the line? With people streaming music? Reading email? On an iPhone, an iPad, on a netbook, or…? It comes down to common courtesy.

As a motorcyclist, I view it the same as I do others with loud pipes. Sure, you can get away with annoying everyone…until they pass a law banning your machine. So don’t take up a 4-seat table during middle of lunch hour. It’s just rude.

I am torn on this one. There have been MANY times I have cursed places like Chuck E. Cheese for not having free wi-fi (or any wi-fi at all) to use while the kids are playing for an hour or two. I can’t see sitting in Starbucks for 6-8 hours a day just to work, but I also think they had a lot of nerve charging people for wi-fi when they already nail us for over $4 a latte (with tax).

It all comes down to greediness. The companies are greedy for wanting to charge for something that is simple for them to provide for free…but people are greedy for being table hogs because they are too cheap to pay for their own internet. Newsflash, peeps…you can go to the library. Most of them have free wi-fi and your tax dollars are already paying for it.

I use coffee shops (etc) as backups to when my internet is out, for the 3 work days between moving and having internet set back up, or when I have to be out of the office (ie, waiting for my husband to get out of dental surgery), or the occasional “working break” before picking up my son from school.

I’d have a WiFi card in an instant, but only when it gets more affordable than $60 a month, 3 times what i pay for internet currently and more than each my utilities, even more than my non-summer electric bill. Can’t justify that sort of cost for a little happiness or convenience. It’d be nice to be one of those people who can dole out that kind of money, but in the mean time, the rest of us use the occasional coffee shop.

Hi Peter,
Sure, I’d still buy coffee–just a lot less of it–like I do when I’m driving into the office. Quite often, the c’shop ‘is’ the place you’re enjoying going to. I routinely arrange meetings, arriving 1-2 hours early to do some work.

It also really depends on where you live. In a more southern climb, or perhaps Pac Northwest, your ‘outside’ perspective makes much more sense. But, someplace like the Midwest, where the weather’s non-cooperative for that sort of thing most of the year (even today, it’s 88, humid, and storming), the c’shop really does offer a unique value proposition.

:)

I should add, that I never go to Starbucks because there are so many better cafes where I live, in both an urban and college town, and I often have the same experiences as Jen, where the only time it’s really problematic for the cafe is during lunch or evening rush. Most of my neighborhood cafes are half empty at other times of the day.

Great point but not everyone can afford $60 a month for access.
It’s a shame that so many people abuse free wifi–staying for hours on end. It’s too bad these people ruin it for others who only use it in moderation.

As far as I know, it’s in the Starbucks culture to make the coffee shop the third place – after work and home, so the third place where you spend most time after those 2 and where you enjoy a confy atmosphere. For this reason, no Starbucks partner/branch should ever tell you to buy more coffee if you want to stay more in the coffee shop, you can stay there all day long sipping one cup.

I know what you mean by the fact that it is always crowded and no space, but nevertheless I love the fact that they have wi-fi and that you can hang around as much as you like… :)

Some good points (8 hrs in a cafe is crazy!) but I’m all for free wifi in cafes. My $10/morning bill (quad shot decalf latte and a muffin) more than qualifies me to use their Internet for free. Do the math on the annual cashola I spend at my fave haunt. If they were to pull the free wifi, I’d go elsewhere. I’m sure I wouldn’t be the only one too. THAT would be a bad biz decision. I like the idea of ‘free for an hour though. :)

I agree that coffee shops should use a better business model than having folks buy one cup of coffee in exchange for a table they monopolize for hours.

The one shop that seems to have this figured out in my town (Atlanta) is a fairly large place divided into two areas. The back section has organically become the plug in and work section. They have provided power strips and everything. It’s quiet, and mostly people are working. The front space is more social, with folks meeting and chatting, playing chess, etc. You have to buy something to get the wi-fi code, and it expires after 2 hours. Then you have to buy something more. I would be fine if they made you buy something every hour!

What I’m looking for is not free wi-fi, that is no longer the draw. But I DO want a space outside of my home office… just a change of scenery can inspire new creativity. But the park isn’t ideal — have you felt the heat in Atlanta lately! I have gone to the library with my laptop to write — that works well.

Bottom line — coffee shops are great gathering/meeting spaces, and it would be nice to have some sort of “hoteling” scenario for us at-home workers who just want a place to hang out and work. And I, for one, would be willing to pay for that time/space.

Thanks for the thought fodder!

Yeah, agreed on your point that far too many abuse the wifi privileges but what about those who don’t & can’t afford the $60+ monthly service? It would be a shame for those who don’t abuse it.

Good post, but I completely disagree. Freelancers, entrepreneurs, and small businesses use venues such as Starbucks to get out of the house, meet new people, and ultimately become more productive. I personally would not do half of the networking (and business) I randomly do at coffee shops if I were on a park bench. Instead, I make time to do that as well.

I understand the abuses that can and do occur. My suggestion is to adopt the “Panera Bread” model, which allows for limited free access. This allows for people to still be patrons of the shop, but opens up room for turnover.

Again, good post and just my two cents. :-)

There are lots of creepy people at coffee shops, esp STBX. The have-nots, I suppose.

I actually spend a lot of time at Starbucks, but use my own Sprint Mobile Broadband service to connect. Being in the wireless business (my site has been selling Verizon & Sprint Mobile Internet since ’05) I know the risks of using open internet. That, plus the value of being able to work anywhere, anytime is huge. I do like going to coffee houses occasionally to work since it is more social than working from my office. I doubt that free wifi is going away anytime soon…

I agree in some ways. However, as a freelance PR professional who only works part-time, I really don’t want to add another $60/month bill to have MiFi. I would love to, but can’t justify it yet.

For the most part I work at home. But, on the days when I drop my kids off at school and have to be back there 2 hours later for a performance or something like that, I go to a coffee shop. I’m grateful they have free WiFi because otherwise I would have to drive all the way home and waste half of my working time. Now, if this came up daily or even weekly, I would pay for the MiFi. But for every now and then, I’m grateful I can spend those two hours at a Starbucks with free WiFi. Personally I prefer Panera, and they usually get the revenue of an entire meal out of me for the free Internet.

I agree with you! Where I live, out in the sticks, we are not able to get high-speed internet. I have had a Verizon air card for over five years and find that it meets all of my connectivity needs. Even when I do take my computer to a place that boasts “free wi-fi” I still just use my air card as it is usually more of a hassle to turn the wi-fi on then to just hit connect with my card.

That’s silly. People always take advantage of free services no matter what the situation. Just doing away with all of them solves nothing, other than taking away free services. This is the same lame argument used to kill socialized medicine in this country. Why do it if people are just going to abuse it? Well, because there are much more of us out there who don’t abuse the system and who are generally good people. Blanket condemnation based on the greedy few is just too American and one of the reasons this country makes me sad.

I think that people should just use common sense. 8 hours at a cafe? I would be vomiting coffee by then.

There should be a live and let live approach, sit and work for hours fine with me, if I’m talking to my friends ignore me and don’t give me any nasty looks. Pretending to work and asking me to be quiet is not acceptable.

Post pictures of your drunk self on Facebook at home !

Great post Peter, as usual. I spend alot of time traveling and the mifi (or digital wireless usb stick thing as I refer to it) has saved me so much time and in the long run a better investment than going to all these wifi hotspots and paying $4/hour or whatever ridiculous amount they charge. When I lived in Berlin, it would have taken me months to get wireless connection in my apartment, but one stop at the 02 store and I was good to go. Thankfully Germany was huge, so I could use it just about everywhere in the country. Those long commutes on teh trains were spent working. Now I am in Costa Rica, and same issue. I rented a wifi usb stick thing and I am working from my villa in the middle of nowhere! Life is good! Down with the starbucks!

Ironically, I’m commenting while on Starbucks Wifi. I have had a fair amount to eat and drink today. Hey, have to edit the book AWAY from my home. But, I get it. I love my Sprint Overdrive. Specifically for the same reasons you mentioned. In one word: FREEDOM.

Cutting the wi-fi may open a lot more tables at the local coffee shops forcing people to do actual work or interact with other folks there. I’d be sad because Starbucks has become my escape from my home-based office, husband, and 3-year old when I really need to write.

It’s rare that I go to work at a coffee shop, but boy was it ever handy today. The office AC wasn’t working when I arrived for work at 8 at it was a steamy 95 degrees or so inside. My team and I hopped across the street to Panera to work until the AC was fixed. Free Wi-Fi saved the day! My-Fi and similar services are great, but not for every situation – especially in the many parts of this country that don’t have 3G coverage.

I have to agree that they should kill the free wi-fi at Starbucks, I hate going in for a coffe and never getting a seat because it is taken up by poor students, business people and ESL students all using the free wi-fi while drinking their one coffee for an hour or longer. Yeah I am sure they all can’t afford the $59.99 card, but at least share the space with other people. I know the Baristas complain about the amount of time some customers spend at a table and would like to kick them out. I don’t use the wi-fi since everything I need is on my Blackberry Storm so I guess I will take my coffee and enjoy the great outdoors until the winter then I go back to sitting on the couch and being nosey looking at what everyone is doing on their computers until they leave.

Every once in a while, I’ll meet a client at a Starbucks for an interview skills coaching session. It’s a good excuse to get out of an office environment. Every time I’ve done this, someone sits near us who wants to work on his/her computer, and gives us dirty looks for carrying on a conversation, as if it wasn’t a coffee shop, but a library. We aren’t loud – it’s two business people conducting a professional conversation at a normal volume. If any of the posters here glare at others who are carrying on a conversation, please stop it!

Peter, thanks for identifying the not-so-hidden hazard associated with public Wi-Fi sites – the total lack of security. My monthly bill for a wireless Verizon card and data plan is less than what I would pay for a Starbucks Venti half-caf with soy on a daily basis and it’s liberating to be able to go just about anywhere and have that connectivity. Love being able to go outside too – instead of being cooped up in a cramped coffee shop or sandwich joint where my concentration and focus is also diluted by my effort to not spill beverages and crumbs all over my laptop AND to make sure that no one is looking over my shoulder at my mail, images, etc.

Happy mediums are often a better solution than black and white bans.

Letting someone surf the net for jobs in these economic times – and giving them the option to caffeinate themselves as they dig through classifieds, unlike many public libraries – seems a great reason to keep free wifi. Now that so many restaurants no longer have smoking and non-smoking sections due to citywide smoking bans, maybe it’s time for a ‘laptop’ and ‘no-laptop’ section strategy.

I guess your Dad didn’t have his WiFi set up by the Geek Squad and he knows his passwords. Because McDonald’s became a very important restaurant experience to me during a visit to Florida this August because I couldn’t sync in to Dad’s WiFi. If you’ll pay for my Sprint MiFi card I’ll be self-actualized just like Meagan. But honey, we don’t sit in the park during August in Texas. December, yes.

Peter: After spending an entire day in NYC looking for free Wifi, a Mifi is looking even BETTER! I was shocked how many places in Manhattan DON’T have Wifi.

And you comment about the security of Mifi over public Wifi is very compelling too.

Thanks for the post. (From a free wifi at the Hard Rock in Times Square because my hotel offers free internet…wired! This trip I only brough my iPad! *grin*)

The only time I use WiFi is when I’m traveling, to keep in touch with news, email, the latest Toby Keith video, etc. Used to go to Internet cafes (you remember them: rows of desktops computers that you rented by the hour) but even in small East European towns they’ve been replaced with WiFi. And I make it a point never to log in to any online account other than webmail via WiFi — if I have to access a secure account I head to a friend’s house and use their landline connection. I’ve never understood the attraction of sitting around a coffeehouse all day to use the ‘net, whether for work or play. There *is* life outside the ‘net, and certainly outside the coffeehouse. Besides, I can’t stand Starbucks! Their coffee is dreadful (I think they scorch it during roasting), their tea is insipid, there’s nothing on their menu that I’d want to eat, and the people who hang out there can be kind of creepy.

What gets me is places that make you wait a long time and don’t have wi-fi. I had to drive my wife to a doc appt b/c when they were finished with her, she wasn’t going to be able to drive for a while. No wi-fi and then they got mad at me for wanting to go a mile away so I could work. I said, if you spend $50 on a router, you’d make it possible to stay. No wi-fi means the time is wasted. And so many med offices have a no cell phone rule, wi-fi really becomes a necessity.

My answer: no, keep it coming, until there are better reasons than ‘it’s crowded’ to turn it off. Personally, I think free wi-fi has almost become de rigueur. Those who offer free wi-fi will stop offering it when it is no longer advantageous to their business models–the market is pretty good about things like that. Who knows, perhaps those who don’t offer free wi-fi will be perceived as having positive differentiation from the rest.

Me? I’m not going to pay $60/mo on top of my necessary home internet fees and on the occasion I want coffee shop/adult beverage establishment free wi-fi, I’ll seek it out and not patronize places who charge me. Like others who’ve commented, I work in coffee shops for a change of pace and generally for in-person meetings or hard copy reading time.

I think we need both, and I thank all those companies that build wi-fi and electrical power into their pricing model. As a tea drinker, I would not buy a thing in coffee shops were it not for occasional stints in other cities and occasional meetups with other freelancers sans broadband. When I will be away from my main base (where I can sit in park-like surroundings without going out of my own router’s range) for more than a few days in a month, then I pay for broadband. And still I end up in laptop-friendly places to use it.

I’m not sure I get the Starbucks Network idea… but my take on Starbucks offering Free Wifi was that they were losing customers to McDonald’s — who has had Free Wifi a bit longer than they did. McD’s has been trying to become the next coffee shop- they keep promoting in all medias their fancy new coffees… and their wi-fi was free, unlike Starbucks who was charging.

You forgot to mention the people who sit outside the coffee shop trying to use the WiFi. Lately there’s been a phenomena of people sitting at the coffee shop and downloading torrents– crippling everyone else’s bandwidth.

However, people can sit all day at Starbucks without using the internet, and still spend for only one cup of coffee (say- study for a test or something).

The timing of this is hilarious! I was in a Panera today having a $4 smoothie (not a cheapo house coffee). Working for an hour then decided to buy lunch when the internet goes down. I walk up, order my lunch and ask about the internet. They kindly reply “We shut off the internet during lunch” I was FLOORED! Never heard of such a thing, at least in our area.

You bring up great points here. And Starbucks responded!!! Very corporate response, but at least they responded. While things like MiFi have made Wi-Fi obsolete in some cases, I have enjoyed using Wi-Fi in coffee shops as a way of switching up the setting in which I get things done. Without the Wi-Fi I wouldn’t have gone to the coffee shop and purchased anything.

I agree and disagree.

My thoughts: http://almasmith.blogspot.com/.....wi-fi.html

I live on a tiny Mediterranean island that relies on tourism. Wifi is available free at a small minority of cafes and hotels. The service appears to be appreciated but not abused. There are some people who spend more time than money in retail space to enjoy the free air conditioning. I think there has to be a certain tipping point in the population density of people who use phrases like ‘tipping point’ in order for some of the negative outcomes to arise.

Here’s a vote for free WiFi everywhere! As someone who travels constantly, I rely on picking up WiFi on the road without paying ANOTHER bill to a greedy phone company. (….and, yes, $60/mo matters to me.)

I consistently choose cafes and restaurants with free Wifi over those who don’t offer it or charge for it. I stopped going to Starbucks when they started charging; I’m now returning. I give my business to businesses that help support mine.

When I was in Jerusalem, I was pleasantly surprised to see a city-wide free WiFi network (at least in the Jewish part of town)….If we all get cards from Sprint, AT+T or Verizon, where’s the political push to get free WiFi for everyone in our own communities?

Kelly Hayes-Raitt
http://www.PeacePATHFoundation.org

I disagree.

As a solopreneur, I find myself looking for different spaces to work from a couple days per week. Since I don’t drink coffee (ya, I’m the one), I usually saddle up to a Panera Bread or Boloco (burrito spot in the Boston area). On average, I spend between $10-12/day and eat two meals during my 4-5 hour stay. I do it for the change of environment, the noise of other people talking around me, social interaction with something other than my TV, and yes, free wifi. However, remove the free wifi, and I’d likely stay in my home office. I’ve been thinking about this topic for awhile actually, and even talked to the manager at the Panera about it. Sure, you get the occasional guy/gal who buys a cup of coffee and sits in a booth for four all day. But for the most part, it’s the “work from home” types who eat, drink, and don’t take up more than one spot. My two pet peeves are 1) Taking up more seats than one needs. If you’re there by yourself, be considerate, leave the booths to larger groups, and 2) conducting conference calls from a store. Seriously, what type of person has a conf call on speaker phone from a damn Panera Bread?! It happens all the time. It’s not your office, so don’t act like it is. Common sense people!

So instead of banning wifi, why don’t we just ban treestumps? If your brain is smaller than a tse tse fly, you’re not allowed inside the store. Period.

Postscript – I’ve landed three clients, numerous subscribers, and employed a web designer all via serendipitous meetings at Panera. Who needs a bailout package, just open more Panera’s :)

I’d be curious to know if Starbucks had any research that showed using Wifi results in sales. For instance, someone might grab some coffee before sitting down, but then might get back up and grab a muffin 30 min later. See where I’m going?

Ryan

When I saw the “Free Wi-Fi” signs I was disappointed. I don’t often use their wi-fi, but when I do I feel like that was one of the great reasons I registered my Starbucks card—for those 2 free hours of wi-fi if I needed it. Now anybody can get free wi-fi? Starbucks just made me feel a little less special.

My only gripe is that as a loyal Starbucks program memer, i lost a big benefit when they opened free wifi to everyone. Not sure what it was replaced with (but I still love my occaisonal Starucks office)

I have an aversion to spending that much money to stay connected. I personally don’t feel that need yet, so keeping my clicking free is for me.

I don’t think it will stay free for too long though.

Mike

Free wifi is good for those who can’t afford the card and the card is for those who can afford it. Don’t go all Marie Antoinette and tell the people who can’t afford bread to eat cake. I’m excited about you going next level but really the aircard is not a necessity or affordable by many these days.

Besides, the people working or not working… this is a tourist’s city: I just feel bad for all the poor tourists that can’t check their email or anything like that, being so far from home… long distance calls are expensive and there’s not internet available everywhere!
We should have WI-FI city! Every single place I go in Argentina has WIFI, EVERY SINGLE PLACE!! and that’s the third world!!! And in Argentina they have “locutorios” basically in every block, it’s phone and computers you use and pay for your time… we don’t even have that. With so many tourists in nyc, it’s kind of ridiculous!!!

The love and hate to free Wi-Fi depends on money. If anybody can easily afford Wi-Fi then what’s the need of free one but if I’m talking about those who necessitate working online but they can’t afford that so they will definitely love free one and even always try to access that because their demands are more than what they have.

For starters is this Peter from 61 and Curtis? Secondly the implications of your point of view speak louder than the words used to type it. Looking at this critically, one has to wonder is your concern truly a seat in a coffee shop, or could it be that you have stock in Mi-Fi cards……just a thought.

So what you’re suggesting is to exchange the starbucks wifi shackles with that of a $60/mth subscription. It’s money shackles of a different kind if you ask me.

100% of my work is internet based, and sure while YMMV dependent on where you live in the world, you may or may not have freely available wi-fi and need a backup service. For 15 years and counting, I’ve cringed at writers suggesting more hardware and more money from people to get online so this complaint I’m expressing is nothing new from me. I’ve been “War Driving” since 2001 and have watched the wave of freely available wifi grow bigger every year, across Canada (in some pretty remote areas I might add), parts of the United States (where my wife can get online for free at her local library with no need to drop a dime for anything, let alone coffee), and parts of Europe.

You have a wide variety of readers with different income levels and definitely different priorities on where they choose to spend their hard earned dollars. I travel more extensively than most, and I can tell you a $60/mth subscription isn’t worth a damn to me if I’m surfing the internet somewhere else. Why not list other options like pre-paid 3G if you want to make the arguement against Wifi (which appears to be the case). If you’re just anti-coffee shops, there’s a number of lists on the internet that will give free wifi spots whereever you might wanna go. In fact do you like visiting California? Here, let me google that for you: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=free+wifi+california

cheers

Actually, @chris (http://bootstraptechguy.com) no – I’m not suggesting Starbucks implement a $60 per month subscription. I’m suggesting people get some kind of device that allows them to connect from anywhere. I don’t want to be shackled to a specific place, is what I’m saying. Sorry if that wasn’t clear to you.

It is a good argument but there is a place for free wifi. My husband & I moved to a new town for his job leaving behind my job and a house w/a mortgage. Following our move the last thing we could afford was a data plan, cable/internet so to send my resumes out I went to the only place I could find with free wifi to send out resumes. Thank god for that free wifi because otherwise we would have been saddled with yet another cost we didn’t need at the time. It’s nice to know that if the other shoe drops and we need to remove a cost from our budget we can remove internet and still have access to it at Starbucks and perhaps meet a new client while having one of many conversations with my fellow coffee house members. Viva Free WiFi!

The WiFi situation @Starbucks has gotten completely out of hand in the Los Angeles area. Every store has turned into a Laptop Alley…havent found a seat all week and I go every day (to decompress during lunch)

I thought Starbucks old policy was fine…you had to purchase something once a month to use it. Now with the Starbucks Digital Network they will be grabbing all your personal data and pushing crap for you to buy.

Nice touch on passive aggressively plugging my “blog” that I haven’t had time or inclination to promote (thanks for the favour?).

Actually, no what you failed to understand Peter, is that I’m not impressed that you’re the one suggesting shackles of a different kind, a contracted mobile plan of $59.99/mth. More than one person has stated this is cost prohibitive.

In fact, let’s review shall we? If you actually read my reply, one of the main suggestions I made was this: “Why not list other options like pre-paid 3G if you want to make the arguement against Wifi ?” THAT is what I said.. I wasn’t actually singing the praises of Starbucks, believe me. I was simply suggesting that no, starbucks, coffee shops etc are not the only ways to get wifi and presented the argument that a lot of us are not going to choose a $60/mth data plan.

Anyway, I decided to visit your blog again today as a friend of mine found what I believe is something that’s worth considering, and coincidentally, something I suggested: pre-paid 3G affordable MiFi in the States (. Their biggest plan? $40 for one month, *unlimited*. They have a cheaper offering of $10 good for 10 days.

Here’s the link for anyone that’s interested (no, I’m not making any money with this link)

http://www.virginmobileusa.com.....nd2go.html

As a frequent traveller to more than one country/continent, *and* for someone who wants to say bye to commitments without shelling out more money than I have to, I’m glad to see there’s a cheaper option (by far) than what you’ve suggested.

I still love the idea of finding wifi spots so even though a pal is happy with his non-expensive MiFi, I’ll be war driving for a little while longer I think. I’ve successfully been able to carry ongoing chat conversations with people, while tapping on my laptop in traffic in the back seat as I hopped from one wifi to another to another. And that was in a small city 4 years ago. go figure.

I hope I was clear to you this time. :)

Cheers