internet cafes

[Paul King]

On 23 May 2006 at 1:12, Paul Apking spaketh these wourdes:
> $2 for half an hour! That seems like a good rate, considering what you
> pay at the majority of the coffee shops that charge $6 or $7 per hour.

I think that is an obscene rate. There is a Starbucks here  in Oakville 
(Lakeshore Road) that charges that over here for laptop access (they don't 
provide one), and I refuse to pay it. Across the way in the square, there is a 
restaurant that also offers wireless laptop access (bring your own also), but it 
is FREE, presumably so long as you are prepared to buy some grub. The place is a 
tucked-away eatery called "Crumz", a place I haven't yet been to. It is also in 
Oakville on Lakeshore Road in the square (same one as The Green Bean (yet another 
coffee shop (no internet)) and L'Atelier Grigorian (an alternative record store --
 if you consider Jazz, Classical, and show tunes to be "alternative" -- still an 
interesting place). Their web site lists their address as "94 George St., Unit 
2". "George Street" is actually the walkway of the public square that passes in 
front of the cafe. It is not marked as such (I don't recall), but the streets 
(which cars drive on) that extend north and south from both ends of the square 
are "George Street."

> 
> All these Second Cups and Starbucks' are part of this hotspot alliance
> sponsored by all the mobile phone carriers. As a self-employed guy
> working out of the basement, I find these great places to go get some
> work done and regain human contact. But the price for their WLAN
> access, while not unaffordable, certainly rankles me from a
> philosophical perspective. I actually found early on that if you paid
> for the first hour and left hte computer on, you could stay connected
> indefinitely. But this past week I did get bumped after an hour... so
> I left.
> 
> Does anyone know about the arrangement these coffee shops have with
> this system? Are they actually making any money out of it? I.E., would
> there be a financial benefit for them to use an alternative system and
> give it away for free? 

I don't know, but there are Starbucks places in Old Montreal which I have been to 
that offered free wireless Internet access. They are very busy coffee shops, with 
lots of adults and teens there with their laptops. They can make money off of it 
if they think they can do a brisk business with it. The Starbucks over here, 
unfortunately, even with the other cafes, don't seem to have that worry.

> I'm pretty sure I could do it for them, but I
> would love to know the business argument before walking into such a
> place.
> 
> Cheers,
> Aaron.
> 
> On 5/22/06, zleap-Tp5KeRqLOeNeoWH0uzbU5w at public.gmane.org <zleap-Tp5KeRqLOeNeoWH0uzbU5w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> > Hi\
> >
> >
> > I know where Linuxcaffe is, however it's quite a distance from where I am
> > staying,  can anyone recommend any in the greater toronto area, I am
> > staying at the global village backpackers on the intersection of spadnia,
> > and king street west, currnetly having to pay $2 for 1/2 hour,  so looking
> > for somewhere within say 5 / 10 mins walk that can offer internet /
> > computer access and perhaps allow me to print stuff out. e.g my resume for
> > job hunting. as it's currently on a usb memory stick.
> >
> > thanks for any recomendations / help
> >
> > I will still use linuxcaffe if I am heading up that far.
> >
> >
> > Is this tuesday coming the last one of the month and hence a meeting date,
> >  I was looking at catching a blue jays game at some point as tickets are
> > about $2 each which is pretty cool (ok it's the top tier with probably a
> > small view but hey I don't mind that).
> >
> > Paul
> >
> > --
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--
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