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In Madison, Wis., where Wi-Fi hot spots often are easier to find than a parking space, you wouldn’t think that a cafe would turn off its wireless Internet connection.
But that’s the case at Madison Sourdough cafe and bakery on Williamson St., where owner David Lehrentz has pulled the plug on Wi-Fi Saturday and Sunday mornings because some customers occupied tables for hours while sipping a latte and surfing the Web — keeping others from getting a table for the cafe’s brunch.
“It’s a tricky thing because you want everyone to feel welcome, but at the same time people should be able to get a place to sit promptly when they come in to spend $50 for a meal for a family of four,” Lehrentz told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
As ubiquitous as free Wi-Fi has become, though, many business owners still don’t offer it, for a variety of reasons, including worries that it encourages some people to hang out at their location for the Internet access while not spending much money.
In Toronto, many of the big-chain and independent coffee shops say Wi-Fi users lingering for hours is rarely a problem, but most nonetheless have policies in place in case they need to, ever so politely, clear the table.
At Café Novo in High Park, owner Elizabeth Wimbush said the café’s Wi-Fi is not protected by a password, meaning that technically, a customer would not have to make a purchase to use it.
“But usually if someone sits down, we just politely ask them if we can take their order,” she said. “From time to time it will get really busy and if somebody has been there for a few hours, we will ask them to share the table.”
Frankih Kolbegger, a barista at Noir Coffee and Tea at St. Clair W. Ave. and Christie St., said customers are usually allowed to spend more time online during the week, but when things get busy over the weekend, they are given pass codes that expire in one hour.
Policies vary at the big chains. Starbucks offers unlimited access, no purchase necessary, while Tim Hortons does the same for those who sign up for its Wi-Fi Plus service. Those who don’t can still have access to two hours of Wi-Fi. Second Cup also has unlimited access, but a purchase is required.
Sam Title, the Toronto man behind The Coffice, which lists cafés around the world for those who prefer to work in coffee shops, says generally, customers know the “etiquette” when it comes to using Wi-Fi for an extended period of time. He said that includes regularly making purchases if you plan on staying in the coffee shop all afternoon.
“It really is up to the coffee shop on whether they want to impose limitations,” he said. “I prefer that customers understand that coffee shops, particularly the independent shops, are businesses, and they need to pay rent, bills and boost their bottom line.”
Time Warner Cable recently commissioned a survey that revealed gaps between the technologies that businesses knew would improve their customer experience, and what they were actually doing. The biggest gap was with Wi-Fi, where 80 per cent of the businesses surveyed said they believed their customers expected free Internet access —and that it was a top way to attract new customers —but only 43 per cent offered it.
“We were surprised by the results of the survey,” said Satya Parimi, a vice president with Time Warner Cable’s division that provides communications services to businesses.
The Wi-Fi gap exists because businesses often are discouraged by the challenges of managing it, sometimes for technical reasons.
Some businesses use hot spots to send advertisements and electronic coupons to customers while they’re hooked up to the wireless connection. They also use the technology to gather data about customers for marketing purposes.
“There’s no such thing as a free lunch, so if you are getting a free service from someone, you’re probably agreeing to something in return,” said Thad Nation, executive director of Wired Wisconsin, a nonprofit group focused on telecommunications issues.
Wi-Fi hot spots can ease boredom while waiting for a service, such as a dentist appointment, and sometimes they help keep customers at a business longer so they can spend more money.
Some of the growth in hot spot locations has been fueled by more people working in nontraditional settings, including freelance contractors who hang out at coffee shops with a laptop computer and mobile phone as their office tools.
In the United States, AT&T, Verizon and other telecom providers have set up thousands of hot spots for their customers, partly because it takes some of the pressure off their cellular phone networks.
U.S.-media giant Comcast Corp. recently launched a system that will turn millions of its customers’ home wireless routers —units provided by the company —into a big network of Wi-Fi hot spots. The hot spots are designed primarily to provide visitors to a Comcast customer’s home the ability to access the Internet without having to use that customer’s password.
If the visitors are Comcast customers, they’ll be able to connect to the network free. Non-customers will be able to use the hot spots as well, getting a limited amount of time for free before they’ll have to pay a fee.
Customers can opt out of having their home router in the network, but otherwise they’re included by default.
Agencies/Canadajournal
…maybe limit customers to 15 minutes of free internet?