A Coffeeshop's Weekends Without Wi-Fi 513
Glenn Fleishman writes "Victrola Cafe and Art in Seattle is a popular coffeeshop that offers free Wi-Fi--except on the weekends. In an experiment, the cafe started shutting down its Wi-Fi network on Saturdays and Sundays after watching their culture erode: the shop became full (and was turning away customers) with six-to-eight hour Wi-Fi squatters, many of whom didn't even purchase anything. Their second Sunday without Wi-Fi was one of their best revenue days in some time. I don't propose a Wi-Fi (or free Wi-Fi) backlash, but it's interesting how with some time under their belt, the clash of inward facing technology and outward facing culture hit these particular entrepreneurs' limit."
Their own fault.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Solution? (Score:3, Insightful)
easier solution... (Score:5, Insightful)
Finding a soluable median (Score:5, Insightful)
The higher the receipt, the longer the passkey works. It's a decent system, if not a little burdensome for freeloaders.
The question becomes, How easily or feasible would it be to put such a system into practice?
coffee shops should stay social (IMO) (Score:5, Insightful)
Isn't this yet another syndrom associated with advancing technology? I can understand wanting to sneak in a few minutes of productivity during a quiet moment of opportunity but have always tried being discreet (and discrete). But I've seen the described behavior in a local Chicago coffee shop... squatters who were there at different times of the day as I passed through. Not only did they not really appear to be paying customers, they:
I have a friend who has a startup refreshment shop, and foot traffic and available space for paying customers is precious. These shop owners aren't making any fortune with their stores, they (at least my friend) do it out of love of the job (interacting with long-time customers, meeting new people, becoming an established figure of the local community).
I also have another friend who frequents a local Seattle coffee shop a lot. It seems from talking with him he is an honorable patron, but I do get the impression he doesn't interact much with anyone there.
Cell phones, laptops, pdas, portable music devices... they all have driven a somewhat asocial behavior. In public it's mostly annoying, maybe a little rude, sometimes outright boorish, but in a coffe shop, good for the owners to shut down the wireless on weekends (for example...). Sounds like they made a right move based on the almost immediate response and thanks received from regulars.
Frankly, the day cell phones and laptops, etc. become totally uncool in public can't come too soon for me. In the meantime (shameless plug) if you're looking for more social ways of using technology consider and look into BookCrossing.com [bookcrossing.com]. It's been mentioned here on slashdot before -- it's a cool way of using technology to share books (something a little less technical, and a lot more social).
Re:easier solution... (Score:2, Insightful)
It'd be better if I could buy seven cups of coffee for seven hours of MUDdin^H^H^H^H^H^Hbrowsing the internet.
Re:Their own fault.. (Score:4, Insightful)
I think they've done well. an attitude of "buy or get out" would be devastating to any sense of culture. terribly vulgar. not because of the principle, but just the impossibilty of implementing it without leading to bad customer service.
and weekends aren't so important as weekdays for people to have internet for business purposes, and are much more likely to be kids using it for fun, so it makes sense.
Re:Their own fault.. (Score:3, Insightful)
self-respect?
Re:Their own fault.. (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm not saying that you post a bunch of signs on the walls and stuff, but if you see someone squating day after day you come up to them, tap them on the shoulder and say, "Excuse me sir, can you PLEASE SOD OFF YOU WORTHLESS PLACE TAKING PIECE OF SOD?!?!"! Well, ok, maybe not quite like that.
Nobody ever talks there. (Score:3, Insightful)
It used to be a great place were you could go drink a great cup of coffee and probably meet a cute indy chick, but ever since WiFi, everyone is so buried in their iBooks updating their MySpace page [myspace.com] that no one talks to each other.
The best part is watching the the Seattle Craigslist Missed Connection [craigslist.org] page fill up with "You are a cute 20 that something redhead sitting over there in the corner. Damn I wish you'd close your iBook so I could talk to you." posts.
The purpose of the WiFi was (Score:5, Insightful)
Eventually, some sort of ettiquette will work it's way to the surface, as it has with bulletin boards or email. I make it a point to a) seek out coffee shops with free wifi (www.delocator.net) and buy something as a sign of appreciation for the free connection. Would it kill the freeloaders to buy a small cup of decaf at the very least?
Re:Their own fault.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Doesn't stop them from squatting inside for 8 hours...
Will sort itself out (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Their own fault.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Definately not ethical, but it would most likely be of little concern to the shop owner.
Re:Finding a soluable median (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Oh Great (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh? Tell that to Red Hat, et al.
Re:Their own fault.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Um... what culture is that, now? The one where the people who don't buy anything sponge off of the merchant's not free (to them) service? The one that burns up bandwidth that the merchant put there as a value to their customers?
vulgar
No, vulgar is using a merchant's services without participating in the implied contract: be our customer. Do those same people feel comfortable showing up there every morning to wash up in the merchant's restrooms, ask for some coffee for free, and then go on their way?
It's not about whether the merchant would have to get into the awkward mode of policing their users for those that have or have not bought coffee... it's about the people who do buy it pointing out that the leeches are, well, leeches. And extracting a little social pain from them so that they get it, and don't wind up with an even stronger sense of entitlement than they already seem to have.
Re:Their own fault.. (Score:5, Insightful)
i'm not sure bandwidth is really the issue here anyway.
Have you ever (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:easier solution... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Finding a soluable median (Score:3, Insightful)
It reminds me of an old joke- 'The best way to kill a party is to turn on the TV.'
+1 funny? (Score:3, Insightful)
"Please. You can't fix social problems with technological solutions."
Are you joking? I don't even know where to start. Let's start with this. You are at a computer somewhere in the world. If semiconductors were to vanish tomorrow, wherever you are, your government would collapse, the balance of power in the world would be thoroughly shaken from head to foot, and millions, if not billions of people would die within a year.
Take the same number of people in New York, drop then in a forest the same size as New York, and watch how quickly society implodes upon itself without the technological infrastructure to support it.
Clearly, technology is doing something. Technology and society are so tightly tied together that you can't untangle one from the other without destroying something.
I know some times when we bang things out on the keyboard they sound really insightful and intelligent, but some times we need to respect the preview button, read what we read, and decide if it really is insightful, or a load of thoughtless crap.
Re:How rude (Score:1, Insightful)
Will be non-issue when free Wi-Fi is ubiquitous (Score:4, Insightful)
Nowdays, when virtually every place of public accomodation has AC, there are no doubt still people who might nurse a single latte for hours in the local coffee shop to escape an unbearably hot apartment, but they're not going to be numerous enough to be a burden on the system. After all, there are plenty of places with AC they can go to.
The problem with Wi-Fi moochers is no doubt a real one now, but it will solve itself in time. Although it's not happening fast enough to suit me, the trends are toward free and ubiquitious Wi-Fi. When that day comes, and they're distributed among all of the bars, restaurants, coffee shops and libraries in a a given area, no one will worry about the one or two Wi-Fi moochers in their establishment at a given moment.
Re:Have you ever (Score:2, Insightful)
Battery power only... (Score:5, Insightful)
Stupidly, some coffeehouses have plugs all over the place anyway. Often this is left over from a previous restaurant business, where they had a lamp on every table, etc.
So if you want people to limit their stay, just limit the electricity!
Re:Those who fill up their lives with stuff... (Score:5, Insightful)
Where I live, I actually haven't found any coffee shops that give away WiFi. That's OK, I'm willing to pay on the rare occasions when I need it, and to buy a coffee that I don't really want, and to limit my stay if the place is busy. I figured that made me a pretty good citizen. Turns out I'm also obligated to make friends with everyone?
Sorry, no offense to anyone, but I don't go there for that; if they didn't have WiFi, I probably wouldn't be there at all. If I was, computer or not, I'd drink my coffee and leave without talking to anyone, unless I ran into someone I knew (and I know and am friends with many people). Some people are extroverts, some aren't. It doesn't have anything to do with stuff.
Does that somehow limit the ability of others to engage in conversation? Not that I can see, but maybe I'm missing something. If you sell coffee and WiFi, you attract people who need coffee and/or WiFi, and lot of them might not know that they are also supposed to be giving warm fuzzy feelings to the owners and the rest of the clientele.
ElBuf
Re:easier solution... (Score:5, Insightful)
Solution 2: Flip the switch on the wireless router on weekends.
You have some strange ideas about "easier"
Re:blank the power outlets-Wont stop madcor wifier (Score:2, Insightful)
Damn fine idea! (Score:4, Insightful)
More power to 'em. In fact, I'd suggest that anyone entering w/ any electronic info device (yes, including cellphones) on the weekend be shown the exit and visited with a hail of derisive boos and laughter.
Re:Solution? (Score:3, Insightful)
Coffee shops are meant to be a highly social place, while the life of the computer addict is a solitary one. It sounds like they were ending up with a shop without energy, silent but for the tappity-tap-clicking of laptops. Even if the sea of laptops was purchasing goods at the same rate as the original, chatty crowd, I can see why they'd want the old atmosphere back.
Bah. Within ten years, there will be dirt-cheap wifi everywhere, and people will go back to going to coffee shops for the old reason: to get laid.
Re:Their own fault.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:How rude (Score:3, Insightful)
No. Coffee shops provide coffee so you can drink it. Everything else is ancillary.
Re:coffee shops should stay social (IMO) (Score:1, Insightful)
I have better things to do than sit around and shoot the bull with stupid idiots who hang around coffee shops and can't figure out what to do with their lives.
The only reason I would ever show up there is to get something to drink or when traveling, get wifi access so I can get my e-mail (via SSH tunnel of course).
So just because you like to hit on people and think everything is a social event doesn't mean everyone is a happy go lucky party person.
Re:easier solution... (Score:3, Insightful)
Why in the world would they *want* to try a different, more complex, less likely to work solution when just shutting the darn thing off seems to be working fine? If some people don't like it, that's OK... they can go somewhere else. It's not the end of the world. If they lose enough customers, I guess they'd change their minds. Considering that many of the wi-fi users were not generating the revenue to justify the business they were driving off I think they might have made the right decision.
Re:Their own fault.. (Score:1, Insightful)
Are you guys high? Do you really think these poor slobs want to waste the time they need to spend making your soy mocha telling ingrate nerds to get the fuck out within earshot of some Yuppie who went there to to get away from assholes?
Guess what brainiacs. They don't need your advice. The WiFi goes. Happiness reigns. Slashdot will discuss how things could have been better.
Don't be so proud of this technological marvel (Score:3, Insightful)
WE adapted technology into the way we bahave, not the other wya around.
My favorite farside has a guy sitting in a little flying saucer zipping through the sky. On the roof of this flying saucer is a spilling cup of coffee.
the caption:
"Technology changes, people don't."
BTW, BILLIONS would not die. Most of the world would get along. A billion, at the worst. consider most people in the world never use a computer
Re:Their own fault.. (Score:3, Insightful)
No. Just those who wanted continuous Internet. Surfing porn, P2P, Slashdot, yes, they needed that. To do email, download it all (I have no sympathy if you use webmail) and read and reply to it at leisure, send it off later. Write your documents, spreadsheets, blog, whatever and upload later too.
Re:Their own fault.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:+1 funny? (Score:1, Insightful)
I'd say the majority of the world doesn't have access to reliable power as it is so it wouldn't really affect anyone but First World nations.
Re:easier solution... (Score:3, Insightful)
Cost: $$$$$
Versus
Unplug the router every Friday at close, plug the router back in every Monday at open.
Cost: 0
Yeah. Option one is way easier.
maybe a low-tech approach... (Score:3, Insightful)
You're totally right. An elegant solution would be expensive to do. How about a more crude implementation: 1. Buy 6 cheap netgear APs at Fry's for $10 each. 2. Configure each one with a different, but simple WEP. Use masking tape to label each one with its WEP.
3. Connect each one to one of those cheap electric outlet timer gizmos so it runs for an hour then shuts off. Sync the timers so one there is always at least one running.
4. Put all this junk behind the counter.
5. Magic marker a sign that says, "Ask cachier to write the wi-fi password on your receipt." Attach to front of counter.
The barrista can easily look at the APs to see which is turned on and give out the password taped on it. I agree that one hour is a little short. With this timer deal, you can even set it for 1.5 hours. Sure, over time, a crafty customer is going to collect all the passwords. You could change them each week and relabel the masking tape on the APs.
Seth