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Starbucks to Offer Free Wi-Fi at All U.S. Stores
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I wouldn't be surprised that this is tied into promoting FaceTime on iPhone 4. People will see others using it and it will go viral from there.
Instead of coffee, get a tea or chai latte. Or one of those yummy pastries.
Was about time they offered free wifi though, I remember the one in Chile always had it for free. :/
Was about time they offered free wifi though, I remember the one in Chile always had it for free. :/
*sigh*
They have had wifi, it just wasn't free for everyone. You had to have an active Starbucks card or an iPhone to use it.
This won't change much for me. I've enjoyed using the wifi, but I'm never there for longer than the two free hours currently offered.
The only problem I see is that it'll be harder to get a seat.......
/likes Starbucks
But it might make THEIR coffee taste better.
Maybe he was just trying to say "there," as in he wasn't at a Starbucks at the moment. Otherwise, he would have used "here."
But then again, maybe not.
This is my problem with Starbucks.
I'd be more willing to deal with Starbucks if their coffee was as good as Peet's (Starbucks originally started by serving coffee made with beans purchased wholesale from Peet's) or by any of the multitude of fine independently-owned coffee shops in my neck of the woods (SF & SF Peninsula).
One of these mom-and-pop shops has offered free WiFi since circa 2002.
Starbucks is about eight years late to the party as far as I can tell (and still serves up crap brew).
I think any coffee shop that didn't already offer free wifi is a few years behind the trend. It always struck me as cheap and narrow minded. There are several places I just refused to go because I could use free wifi elsewhere. For what it cost them a month, I would think the positive return would be tenfold. Congrats for squeezing every last dime out of this one, Starbucks.
Starbucks is good in a pinch but the wifi there has been free to me for years due to have an ATT internet account. The thing I hated about those things is how big of a pain in the ass it is to log into the system and allow me to use it. Normally more trouble than it was worth. I would just get my coffee and go.
I know with my blackberry which is with AT&T it logs right into star bucks wifi but with my iPod touch it was requiring a log in. That is just a month or so ago.
I know with my blackberry which is with AT&T it logs right into star bucks wifi but with my iPod touch it was requiring a log in. That is just a month or so ago.
Where are these Starbucks locations that charge $4.50 for a cup of drip coffee*? A medium (excuse me...grande) costs me $2.08 with tax which is about fifteen cents more than DD (crap) or McDonald's (surprisingly good). I've been to Starbucks in several different states and the prices are generally the same give or take a nickel.
*hint: they don't exist.
I know that used to be the case, however recently I have connected with my ipod touch. All you have to do is connect to their network and agree to their terms and conditions and you are good to go, at least at the 3 or so McD's I have tried.
I might want to correct that. I pointed out in my post it is not that you were required to have an iPhone. You just were required to have an AT&T phone with wifi on it and it would hook right in with out an issue.
The other way to get free wifi at Star Bucks is to have a home internet account with AT&T. You just have to use that log in info to get into the free wifi. Now i have both so I could hook just about anything in.
Ok, scratch free Wifi off the list of reasons why my coffee shop is better than Starbucks. That just leaves...uh....cheaper and the coffee is Stumptown instead of ash....no thanks, Starbucks. I'll stick with my local place.
As long as 150 odd people don't sit in there running MiFi like devices all at once destroying the wifi frequencies then it should be fine.
Honestly, I'm surprised all cafés don't already do this. Wifi routers and a fast-ish broadband connection are cheap as chips these days. Sure you're goingto get a few abusers but the easy free wifi is likely to increase customers and repeat customers on the whole.
There is no counting taste.
Not all coffees are equal. Keep your fat and sugar. Straight up virginal coffee for me.
Let me know when you get 507 base stations sucking up your pipe and how it keeps on chuggin.
At least better than their coffee.
Starbucks announced that they would be activating free Wi-Fi access across all U.S. locations starting on July 1st. The move is seen as a response to increased competition from other chains which already offer free Wi-Fi to their customers.
iPhone customers have already enjoyed free Wi-Fi at Starbucks stores in conjunction with AT&T. While the move negates this advantage for iPhone customers, it opens up more free Wi-Fi hotspots to iPod Touch and iPad owners who were previously excluded from the service.
Article Link: Starbucks to Offer Free Wi-Fi at All U.S. Stores
