wi-fi

Snakes & Lattes: The Anti-Web Cafe

By Mark Evans in Social Media 1 Comment Tags: , , ,

August 31, 2010 Snakes and Lattes, a pro board game, anti-internet cafe on Bloor Street West has 1500 games on site. in Toronto TORONTO STAR/STEVE RUSSELL Cafes have become places where data is consumed as much, if not more, than coffee.

With free Wi-Fi being offered by major chains such as Starbucks and Second Cup, the majority of people in cafes are armed with laptops and a willingness to hang out for a long time.

For cafe owners, it’s a mixed blessing because free Wi-Fi draws customers but these customers also take up valuable real estate because they stay a long time without consuming a lot of product – at least product that costs money.

So it was interesting to stumble upon Snakes & Lattes in downtown Toronto, which does not offer free Wi-Fi or, for that matter, Wi-Fi at all. Instead, S&L has more than 1,500 board games that people can play for $5/table. It means that instead of staring into the digital abyss, people are playing a game and interacting with each other.

In this day and age, this is a pretty awesome (and old school) thing that S&L is trying to encourage. It’s also pretty fantastic marketing given it must be difficult for cafes to differentiate themselves now that everyone is offering free Wi-Fi to lure Internet users.

Here’s hoping that games rather than data will give S&L the competitive edge it needs to survive a crowded marketplace.

Wow, An Internet-Friendly Airport!

By Mark Evans in Wireless 1 Comment Tags: , , ,

When you fly these days, it’s the little things that make things a less aggravating – the check-in person who’s happy and efficient, decent coffee, a flight that leaves on time, and an in-flight entertainment system with movies that don’t suck.

Coming back from Finland today, I was pleasantly surprised – no, make that very surprised – to discover how Helsinki International Airport has enthusiastically embraced the idea of offering free Internet access to passengers.

On top of that, there are designated places with power outlets to use a laptop. It’s a far cry from North American airports where Boingo is happy to give you access for $9.95/day, and power outlets are few and far between.

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Life on the Other Side of the Digital Coin

By Mark Evans in Web-based Services, Wireless 5 Comments Tags: ,

So, my hunt for Wi-Fi in Bayfield, Ont. was finally successful as the public library offers free access.

What’s interesting is the library seems to be the place in town where most people go to get online. With a large retirement community that only needs occasional access to the Web, the library’s computer and its Linksys router meets the needs for many people who may not have a computer at home.

When I told the librarian how it was difficult to find Wi-Fi in town, she said so many people depend on the library’s Internet connection that there is much unhappiness when technical issues knock out its service.

So, what are people doing online? Mostly, e-mail and paying bills. No mention about Twitter, Techmeme, Facebook or Friendster.
:)

What I found funny and interesting is the librarian told me that when people want to get online when the library is closed, they park their cars outside, and then jump on the wireless network.

You figure with this kind of demand, an enterprising cafe owner would offer free Wi-Fi to paying customers, or even a little CyberCafe.

The Death of Free Wi-Fi

By Mark Evans in Wireless 11 Comments Tags: , , , ,

It used to be that jumping on a free Wi-Fi network to check e-mail or do some casual Web browsing was easy. Most people didn’t lock down their networks because they were happy to share and/or they didn’t know how to do lock down their networks. Few people abused the privilege, and it was a win-win all around.

Today, it’s a different world. It’s increasingly diificult to find a free and open Wi-Fi connection. Most networks have the evil “lock” icon. This is all the fault of Linksys, Cisco and D-Link, which have made security on new routers far too simple to set up. What ever happened to the complex process of configuring a WEP password!?

Meanwhile, the media has done a great job convincing everyone that open Wi-Fi networks are just an invitation for strangers to download gigabytes of music, movies and porn.Unlike the credit card business that forgives its customers if someone else uses their cards without authorization, the ISPs – and, for that matter, the music industry – put the onus on the subscriber for whatever happens on their -Internet connection.

Then, you’ve got the bandwidth caps being quietly applied by the ISPs to “manage” their networks. Of course, it’s also a way to monetize their networks given the emergence of bandwidth-sucking video services such as Hulu and YouTube. When you have a bandwidth cap, there’s far less incentive to share.

What it means is the free ride is over. It was fun while it lasted but the party is being shut down. In it’s place, you have hot-spots run by the ISPs; services such as Boingo, (which offers access to more than 13K hotspots in Canada but, sadly, none in Bayfield, Ont.); the occaisonal independent cafe that offers customers quasi-free Wi-Fi to lure people away from Starbucks; and altruistic, but under-funded community groups that try to offer free Wi-Fi.

RIP, free and open Wi-Fi; it was nice knowing you.

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