Free Wi-Fi Is Bad For Business

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Good job, all you freeloading bastards have screwed it up for everyone. In all seriousness, how many people think Wi-Fi attracts too many freeloaders? How many people think it benefits the business?

"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."
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I think people that will stay in a coffee shop (or other establishment) for an extended period of time freeloading are far fewer in numbers than someone who would stay for a reasonable time and read a story/facebook it up and then go on their way.

I do not believe free wifi would be harmful at all in most cases.
 
The only issue I've ever encountered with "free Wi-Fi" is shitty bandwidth. Here in my area the libraries have offered it for many years now but it's strictly 11b - they've never bothered to spend a bit of taxpayer dollars and upgrade to something more speedy.

On the rare occasions where I've taken a laptop to the library just for shits and giggles - since I'm going there to get books or tagging along with the Wife, maybe grab some DVDs or audio CDs while I'm there - I found it almost impossible to do most anything because of the lame ass bandwidth. And the regular desktop machines in the library are on very snappy connections, but attach to the Wi-Fi and it's a slow slow crawl that makes it basically unusable.

There's a Krispy Kreme in the downtown area here that offers free Wi-Fi and it's somewhat useful if needed; capped at 1.5 Mbps or so (standard DSL line I think) but it's there if I need it. At home I'm on a 50 Mbps cable connection so whenever I hit up a Wi-Fi hotspot someplace around town it's always slow compared to that. :)

There was a story just last week I think about someplace in NYC or some other big town that wouldn't allow ANY "computers" during the lunch time rush, like 12 noon to 3PM or whatever. I bet more places adopt such policies in the long run. But flat out telling people not to use their own devices at all, that's a great way to piss off a lot of folks.

I can't even imagine such a practice in NYC or L.A. or Chicago with all the business folk in those areas on lunch breaks and not being able to use their laptops, BlackBerries, iPhones, whatever... that's just insanity in this day and age.
 
I remember working in a games shop which was 3 doors down from an internet cafe with free wi-fi. All you had to do was once per month go to the shop and buy a muffin. After that all the PSPs/DSs had free internet that we used for all the store models. Ah leeching interwebs, those are happy days.
 
Having a job that deals with security, I never trust/use public access points. If I'm at the airport or hotel with my laptop and want to get online, I'll tether to my Droid which prolly has a faster connection anyways. Not to say that my cell connection is totally secure either, but those public access points are a hackers dream and makes it much easier for them.
 
Rofl-Mic-Lofl said:
I think people that will stay in a coffee shop (or other establishment) for an extended period of time freeloading are far fewer in numbers than someone who would stay for a reasonable time and read a story/facebook it up and then go on their way.

I do not believe free wifi would be harmful at all in most cases.
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The main problem is during peak hours you could have a full shop with guys in there all day long who bought one cup of coffee working on their freelance writing, and the person who just popped in to get a cup of coffee wouldn't have a place to sit. It's akin to staying at a table for 8 hours in a restaurant after ordering just an appetizer and a water.

Coffee shops outside of busier cities rarely have to worry about this though.
 
IRSmurf said:
Easy to solve the problem. Minimum $5 order per fifteen minutes.
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This is kind of like what Slotzkie's Deli did.. at least at the one I normally stopped at when I lived in AZ.

You buy something, and they would give you an access code that was good for either 30 minutes or an hour... don't remember exactly. Once the time was up you would not have access anymore.

And you had to ask for the access code to top it off.

It was a pretty good system in my opinion.
 
I have to travel 2 hours away some days to take my wife to the doctor's office. While she's in at the doctors, I sit in a starbucks and work at nearly 100% efficiency. I Never work on wifi as an un-paying customer. I will grab a specialty coffee and a treat. If I'm there all day I'll have 2-3 coffees and a few baked goods.

HOWEVER
Sometimes when I need directions or an e-mail or what have you, I'll park in front of a free wifi spot to get what I need and proceed on my way.

I will not work somewhere I have to pay for Wifi. I specifically go to places because they have free wifi.
 
Any business that thinks free wifi is hurtful to their business is short sighted. The hardest part of business is getting people in your store. Once they're in your store they are more likely to buy something than they were before.
 
Lots of freeloaders out there. It does hurt the business when non paying customers are taking up space.
 
I think it depends on the business. Restaurants need to turn the tables as fast a possible to keep the volume up. When was the last time you ate 2 dinners? Adding dessert in the last 45 minutes doesn’t cut it.
It’s different in coffee shops. It’s all about keeping you there to drink the coffee and order the dessert.
I lived for a month in Siberia (Kemerovo) Russia. Free WiFi at Travelers Coffee kept me sane and provided them ample business. I easily spent 6 – 8 hours per day for a month in that coffee shop. I drank my share and then some.
 
BloodyIron said:
Any business that thinks free wifi is hurtful to their business is short sighted. The hardest part of business is getting people in your store. Once they're in your store they are more likely to buy something than they were before.
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How is this? It depends on the shop based on the information gathered so far. Some people outside the city could use the wi-fi as a little incentive and the ones in the city may need to ditch it or regulate it to avoid the squatters. You can't throw a blanket statement or policy over this one I don't think. I remember when I used to go to coffee shops for hours on end and the wi-fi wasn't even a factor, just the free music and friends.
 
I've never really understood why people go to a cafe and sit there by themselves for hours. I can at least understand a study group or collaborative group doing work while talking to each other and eating/drinking, but going there alone? Why? Odds are low that they're in an area with coffee shops yet can't get DSL or cable at home. AT&T has $19.99 DSL, and Comcast has $40 internet for about the same speeds. Most of them also have cell phones that are plenty capable of tethering if it came down to it.

If it isn't the availability of internet that they don't have at home, then what is it? Sitting somewhere staring at an electronic screen when everybody else is having conversations makes me feel like the odd one out - do these people actually enjoy that feeling? If I want to do work, alone, I want to do it at home, and I'll just order delivery.
 
The local starbucks by my college seems like it always has a handful of people with laptops in there.
 
I can honestly say I've never gone to a coffee house to use my laptop or wireless access. I go to get a cup of regular no frills coffee. I've used wireless access at hotels and truck stops while traveling (mostly pay). I've been blessed with a mobile router the past three years with a sprint aircard, so I have internet within 100ft of my truck. Since it's open access, I've probably been the AP for lots of other freeloaders :)
 
I'll sit at starbucks for maybe 30 minutes while I drink my specialty drink and surf on my netbook.
 
My opinion means nothing, because if you ask me charging 5 bucks for a cup of coffee would bankrupt a business.. but man I was off on that.
 
3/4G Baby! Honestly my 3G connections work better than free WiFi a lot of places. Personally I don't do free WiFi most of the time out of paranoia.
 
I like this comment in the article:

A place that serves food is NOT an office and is NOT in business to provide free office space for those who want to 'work' on their laptops.

These technies need to go back to their office or work at home.
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Ualdayan said:
I've never really understood why people go to a cafe and sit there by themselves for hours. I can at least understand a study group or collaborative group doing work while talking to each other and eating/drinking, but going there alone? Why? Odds are low that they're in an area with coffee shops yet can't get DSL or cable at home. AT&T has $19.99 DSL, and Comcast has $40 internet for about the same speeds. Most of them also have cell phones that are plenty capable of tethering if it came down to it.

If it isn't the availability of internet that they don't have at home, then what is it? Sitting somewhere staring at an electronic screen when everybody else is having conversations makes me feel like the odd one out - do these people actually enjoy that feeling? If I want to do work, alone, I want to do it at home, and I'll just order delivery.
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Not everyone is interested in paying for something they can get for free or little cost (a 3 dollar coffee) Nowadays they could be jobless and have cut back on having home service, and even though most of our friends have smartphones now, only around 21% of customers have them so not everyone has a phone that can tether
 
If you have an establishment that's nearly full on all open hours of the day, then the internet connection can be a burden. But, if you're like most businesses which suffer during this economy, then having the open wifi will bring the customers. Even if they sit there all day and just drink, it's better then nothing.
 
Easy Fix, Shut down your wi-fi for a week and see how packed your business is then. The only thing you have to worry about is those people who think everyone OWES THEM something and stages a protest in front of your business.
 
Ashbringer said:
Even if they sit there all day and just drink, it's better then nothing.
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Imagine that: a coffee shop where someone goes buys and drinks coffee or whatever all day long. I never would have thought of such a great idea... now if only I could find a way to market such a thing... I wonder, I wonder... ;)
 
Zarathustra[H];1036040657 said:
Peope who bring books, magazines or newspapers are also bad for business then :p
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Precisely... hell, anyone just sitting there drinking coffee or whatever would fall into such a category as well by that definition, I suppose.

If they offer "free Wi-Fi" and advertise it and I come for that knowing I'll be buying something, I don't see what the issue is - I spend money and I get their services. If necessary they can put up signs at each table, etc just like Denny's and IHOP and other places do and have done for many years now: "30 minute time limit for coffee/beverage purchasers, 1 hour for meals."
 
sfsuphysics said:
My opinion means nothing, because if you ask me charging 5 bucks for a cup of coffee would bankrupt a business.. but man I was off on that.
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A cup of coffee at Starbucks in downtown Chicago (highest sales tax in the nation) comes to $2.10. This "$5 cup of coffee" is a middle America myth. A ridiculous sized iced coffee smoothie with 2 espresso shots, caramel, and whipped cream might comes to $4-5, but that is not a cup of coffee.

The wi-fi issue is overblown. Just ask people who take up big tables by themselves to move, and then put smaller tables by the windows (hot or cold) and under the HVAC vents.
 
If people are hogging the tables (for whatever reason) then why not ask them to leave? Then if they still don't leave or at least order something then kick them out.
 
Zarathustra[H];1036040657 said:
Peope who bring books, magazines or newspapers are also bad for business then :p
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From the article, "Coffeehouses have always attracted bookish deadbeats who stayed too long and bought too little."

The big difference is that readers don't take up as much room and don't cost the owners anything in overhead.
 
cyclone3d said:
This is kind of like what Slotzkie's Deli did.. at least at the one I normally stopped at when I lived in AZ.

You buy something, and they would give you an access code that was good for either 30 minutes or an hour... don't remember exactly. Once the time was up you would not have access anymore.

And you had to ask for the access code to top it off.

It was a pretty good system in my opinion.
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Sounds like a decent enough system. As far as the article is concerned though, I always buy something from McD/Starbucks if I am using their free wifi for an extended period of time, and I am sure I am not the only one that has this mentality about "paying for it" indirectly if they are providing me a convenience.
 
In this economy, I don't think the answer is making customers feel unwanted or feel like they are not welcome in your establishment . . . .

that's a great way to end up in bankruptcy proceedings, more and more businesses are going out of business than ever before.
 
:D I think its cool that wi-fi users are free loaders they are potential customers and cannot get kicked out unless they are looking at porn and start jacking it. iporn for the mac users. :eek: :p
 
T4rd said:
Having a job that deals with security, I never trust/use public access points. If I'm at the airport or hotel with my laptop and want to get online, I'll tether to my Droid which prolly has a faster connection anyways. Not to say that my cell connection is totally secure either, but those public access points are a hackers dream and makes it much easier for them.
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This.. using public wifi without a lot of safeguards is just as good as handing all your info over to anyone that wants it.
 
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