 | | $$$ Since these spots are going free, where is ATT going to make their $$$ someone's bill is going up somewhere.
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www.twopugsbrand.com Kosher, Vegan, and Organic Certified Dog and Cat treats/foods and other products! | |
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 | | | Re: $$$ Free wifi=incentive to stay there and drink another coffee. | |
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| | Reviews:
 ·WOW Internet and..
| Re: $$$ That is for the store. My post was about ATT not the retail locations. ATT got a cut of people buying plans. Hence is why they bought WayPort. Not to expand their own network but to get that $$$ that WayPort was getting from everyone around the world.
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www.twopugsbrand.com Kosher, Vegan, and Organic Certified Dog and Cat treats/foods and other products! | |
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| | | fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | Re: $$$ McDonals went free too and uses WayPort. | |
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| | | Reviews:
·Comcast
| ATT has probably been the telecom provider for Starbucks all along. No doubt that in and of itself is providing ATT with mucho $$$ in monthly recurring charges. Starbucks is not a small outfit. It is about time Starbucks leveraged their account with ATT and provided free internet for their customers. | |
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| | |  en102Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA | This is the 'gesture' for AT&T subscribers that are now to be capped to have some alternatives.
- I.e. Those that went and bought an iPad
- Those that will be purchasing 3G devices (iphone 4g)
AT&T can now claim that they're extending the olive branch and offering some thing for free, while making money on 3g capped data.
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Canada = Hollywood North | |
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| | | |  BootesPremium
join:2005-01-28
Scarsdale, NY | Re: $$$ As the article states, AT&T WiFi has been free for AT&T subscribers for a long time. The new thing is that those who aren't already AT&T customers get it for free as well. | |
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| |  Romney2012Defeat Obama 2012-Chg we can believe inPremium
join:2002-03-03
USA
kudos:4 | said by cowboyro:Free wifi=incentive to stay there and drink another coffee. And also to get people to drink coffee there at all. You can get better coffee at a WaWa(or many other delicatessen like chains) for 1/2 the price that Starbucks charges. Starbucks sells ambiance and a nice place to while away some time because the quality of their coffee doesn't justify what they charge for it.
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Are you happy with your rep in Washington, DC? | |
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| | |  BIGMIKEPremium
join:2002-06-07
Westminster, CA | Re: $$$ said by Romney2012:said by cowboyro:Free wifi=incentive to stay there and drink another coffee. And also to get people to drink coffee there at all. You can get better coffee at a WaWa(or many other delicatessen like chains) for 1/2 the price that Starbucks charges. Starbucks sells ambiance and a nice place to while away some time because the quality of their coffee doesn't justify what they charge for it. A Starbucks
refill is 50 cents 
$1.75) 20 oz Coffee | |
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| | | |  FutureMonKeep your Mitts off RMoneyPremium,ExMod 2002-05
join:2000-10-05
Seaside, CA | Re: $$$ Heck a 24 oz coffee at 7-11 costs almost 2 bucks after tax. | |
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| | | |  tobyTroy Mcclure
join:2001-11-13
Seattle, WA | If you use their card, regular tall coffee refills are free, along with the free wifi (right now) | |
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| | | elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA Reviews:
 ·SONIC.NET
·RoadRunner Cable
| said by Romney2012:And also to get people to drink coffee there at all. You can get better coffee at a WaWa(or many other delicatessen like chains) for 1/2 the price that Starbucks charges. Starbucks sells ambiance and a nice place to while away some time because the quality of their coffee doesn't justify what they charge for it. I've found that McDonalds "premium" coffee is actually better than Starbucks, but as you suggest, the ambiance makes the difference. I hope it stays that way in the face of "free" WiFi.
But as for the price, as if that mattered, why the hate?
Starbucks charges less than McDonalds, Denny's, Winchells, and a myriad of other choices.
And yet, it is almost fashionable to accuse SBUX of charging a premium. When they don't. | |
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| | WHT
join:2010-03-26
kudos:3 | said by cowboyro:Free wifi=incentive to stay there and drink another coffee. As I recall back in '08, coffee shops wanted to get away from the free wireless model as people were squatting for hours on end and taking up seats. | |
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| | | Paid wifi is a thing of the past. I cant see to many people paying for wifi when they have internet on there cell phones. Tethering has taking off alout faster then i thought it would. Years ago id sit in mc donalds while my kids play in the play land id just tether my laptop to my cell phone. Free wifi is nice but id rather more power outlets, Im tired of getting bitched out for unscrewing light bulbs and plugging my laptop in there. | |
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| | Reviews:
·WOW Internet and..
| Re: $$$ they don't offer outlets due to they don't want you there all day using the 'net. That's the point.
Tethering is getting to be a thing of the past. Companies don't like it and lock the phones from even doing it (ie: Apple & at$t)
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www.twopugsbrand.com Kosher, Vegan, and Organic Certified Dog and Cat treats/foods and other products! | |
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| | Reviews:
·Cox HSI
| said by mustang03282:Paid wifi is a thing of the past. I cant see to many people paying for wifi when they have internet on there cell phones. Tethering has taking off alout faster then i thought it would. Years ago id sit in mc donalds while my kids play in the play land id just tether my laptop to my cell phone. Free wifi is nice but id rather more power outlets, Im tired of getting bitched out for unscrewing light bulbs and plugging my laptop in there. Good point about tethering.
I would imagine the hard core users have found various / creative ways to connect to the internet and find power outlets. 
I think it would be interesting to find out the the demographics of people who do/will use Starbuck wi-fi for free such as: male/female, age range, income, reason for use personal/work/combination. | |
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| | | Reviews:
·Frontier Communi..
 ·Cricket Broadband
·Comcast
| Re: $$$ I have a friend that all she does is goes to starbucks, and uses the internet, she does not pay for internet her self, she will just sit at Starbucks for hours and hours, she doesnt even have to sit inside, she just plugs her laptop in her power converter in her car and connects to the wifi outside starbucks... shes a 22 year old, goes to college, works at Walmart part-time, so for being a college student, got to do things cheap. | |
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| | | | I doubt they will ever completly block tethering. I use to hook my laptop to my cell phone in the late 90's hooking the modem in my laptop to a hands free headset and useing blind dial. It was piss slow but it worked great for irc. Seeing some of the things the homebrew community can do cell providers and phone makers dont stand a chance at blocking customers from useing there device to the as they please | |
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| | | | I can guarantee you that it is not a thing of the past outside the US, especially in the Far East.
My friend *just* came back from HK and Japan, and there is absolutely no "free" there anymore. McDonalds was the last of the free, but they are now paid. Surprisingly, some Starbucks in Tokyo (Aqua City in Odaiba comes to mind) had free wifi.
I'll bet that free wifi will be a flash in the pan here also, with iPhone/iPad users hovering just outside Starbucks using the free wifi. The same exact thing happened in Tokyo when McDonalds started free wifi a few years ago -- tons of kids with their laptops sitting outside McDonald's, sometimes for most of the night. These "freeloaders" (in the corporate minds) will kill off "free". | |
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| | | | | Re: $$$ Most of McD's offered free wifi then went paid due to this. They'll be back to paid in no time at all. | |
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2 edits | Most Starbucks are small. With free/unlimited WiFi, there will be more people just sitting there for hours on end watching Hulu.
My local Panera Bread has free WiFi. It's a large place but when I go there I always seem to find the same group of people sitting there with their laptops. Sometimes I think they live there. | |
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| |  camaro92Question everythingPremium
join:2008-04-05
Westfield, MA | Re: You better find your seat early. I think there is a word for that it's called freeloaders,aside from that hopefully some dumb person doesn't use it for we shale say nefarious reasons and screw it up for everyone else. | |
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| | | AT&T is making plenty of revenue -- they're being paid by Starbucks to provide internet connectivity services at Starbucks locations, no differently than if they were providing connectivity to a business with 7,000 field offices.
Details of the revenue model may change, but the receipt of revenue will not. This arrangement will probably be a big boost to AT&T's revenue from Starbucks. | |
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Reviews:
·Cox HSI
| Wi-Fi I was wondering when this was going to happen.
It seemed to me that Wi-Fi would be better used as advertising then as a paid use model.
With a Free use, then they are able to tailor the service aka: filter the service as they see fit with little push back from users.
Yea, I know there are those campers who spend all day. But those 2% are everywhere. | |
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| | | Re: Wi-Fi I find it a courtesy to purchase an item from a store and always do if it provides free WiFi. That said, there's a Starbucks here with a cafe right next to it that provides free WiFi which is kinda funny and why the tend to attract more business since they provide WiFi for free as opposed to Starbucks. | |
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 brianPremium
join:2002-05-02
Lake Forest, CA | excellent this is great news. I just switched from ATT DSL to DSL Extreme, and the "free" wifi was going to be missed. | |
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| | | Re: excellent i'm surprised DSLX and the others don't offer some type of Wifi plan with their DSL. | |
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 Frankis chillingPremium
join:2000-11-03
somewhere | mcdonalds does this too.. mcdonalds also provides free wi-fi via at&t/wayport
you can see if your local mcdonalds has free wifi by checking out the link below.
»www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/services···ifi.html
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At first I thought everyone on the highway was drunk but then I realized I was driving in Florida | |
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| maubs
join:2010-02-26
Farmington, IL | Re: mcdonalds does this too.. Yeah, but you have to sit in a McDonald's. | |
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MadtownPremium
join:2008-04-26
Madera, CA | For those who are reading this Don't get too excited for it. I've tried the Wi-Fi at both Mcdonalds and Starbucks, I can't even get on, too many people using the network at the same time. I've tried for over an hour to log on, I just had to give up and find something else to do. Doesn't matter if I'm in the parking lot or sitting down at one of the tables inside. | |
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| Reviews:
·WOW Internet and..
| Re: For those who are reading this University Hospitals Cleveland has this problem. but i found out that's not a network issue by ATT it's just the first time connecting. It took me about 20minutes the first time and 2 complete system reboots. After that was fast as hell 6meg down and 3meg up. After the first connect when i'm in the hospital my computer just logs in now i just have to open up the browser agree to their terms and boom! everything logs in.
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www.twopugsbrand.com Kosher, Vegan, and Organic Certified Dog and Cat treats/foods and other products! | |
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pkorx8
join:2003-06-19
San Francisco, CA Reviews:
·Comcast
·SONIC.NET
| Peet's For Starbucks to make this sustainable, they need to figure a way to limit the duration of the free wifi service.
I've seen people who basically turned free wifi coffee shops into their 8-5, m-f office. And its especially not fair for the mom and pops coffee shops.
Peet's coffee has a simple and fair model. 2hr of free wifi with any purchase.
With that said and something like that in place, they need to increase the number of available power outlets. I know some places where they eliminate all power outlets as a way to limit the stay duration.
And from my observations, the US still has more free/public accessible wifi than someplace like Hong Kong, where the social/economic situation affects the free wifi model differently. | |
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| | What did they charge before? I think you just needed to get like a $5 gift card or something. And then you're good forever. | |
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| | Freeloading problem The biggest problem is freeloaders taking up space and not buying anything. At least when I go to Panera Bread I try to buy a least a coffee.
I remembering coffee ending free WiFi. | |
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tivoboy
join:2004-05-10
Menlo Park, CA | that's it I won't be going to my local sbux anymore, too many free loaders as it is. Didn't they learn from the Panera Bread mistakes, people just take over and never leave! | |
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| | be careful wht you wish for t-mobile was the originator of starbucks wifi. att must have made starbucks an offer they couldn't refuse.
right now the way starbuck's business is slowing, they need any attractive add on to attract customers.
panera bread has pastry, comparable coffee and never charged for wifi.
make mine an everything bagel with cream cheese and a large dark roast @panera.
just enough fuel to fire my laptop up and take care of business. | |
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| |  Free Wi-Fi
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| | | Re: Free Wi-Fi OH and most of your Denny"s restaurants now have free wi-fi. I had a hell of a time getting egg yoke out between the keys on my laptop what a mess but it all came clean  | |
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| | It should be noted.... It should be noted that as of june 7th all att data plan users get free use of att wifi hotspots, free to others or not, unlimited uncapped. I will go with my iPhone 4 to any free wifi site and video call with my girlfriend, including but not limited to the att sites.
You want to know how att benefits? In SOME places with no cell coverage, one can still video call, email etc via wifi, this makes people happy, including me. Oh, and picking out a book or ordering something is vastly more efficient if the other person can see what you're talking about. This was the "other half" of the video calling circle. Also, wifi clears up cell sites and creates better service.
- A
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LETS GO METS! | |
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