The New York Times highlighted the problems of handing out free Wi-Fi in an article yesterday (which I'm not going to link to it because it's registration-only). Giving customers free net access is great, say coffee shops, but there are a plethora of surfers who simply turn up and don't buy much:
[Seattle coffee shop] Victrola started providing free wireless access two years ago after customers asked for it. As in hundreds of other cafes, the owners hoped it would encourage regulars and infrequent patrons to buy more food and drinks. But there was also a disadvantage, staff members said: the cafe filled with laptop users each weekend, often one to a table meant for four. Some would sit for six to eight hours purchasing a single drink, or nothing at all.
What's the answer?
Certainly such hotspot hogging is a growing phenomenon, which I've seen in operation around certain places in London and, on a more up-front scale, in California. The obvious answer, though, is not for cafes to stop providing wireless access to customers.
It's for cities to offer a wide spread of municipal Wi-Fi networks across swathes of city centres, just like Brighton, just like Bristol, and just like Philadelphia.
Once free wireless internet access is not a scarce commodity, people will begin using it properly and not abusing what is, essentially, the hospitality of shops and businesses.
