Here in Seattle, there isn’t enough room to swing a cat without hitting an open wi-fi access point. During lapses in my own internet service (damn you, Comcast) I have gotten by on my neighbors’, or one of the dozen cafes or bars within half a mile that have free, unfettered internet access. In fact, it’s become a sort of lifestyle I and other Seattleites subscribe to, flitting about the cafes, sharing music, blogging together. Pretty obnoxious, now that I think about it. But if there’s another thing Seattle is known for, it’s Starbucks. Now, like any true Seattleite, I haven’t set foot in a Starbucks in years except when absolutely necessary (airport, gift card, etc) — I could make some statement about burned beans and corporate culture, but really, it’s because of their lack of wi-fi.
Oh sure, they have wi-fi. There’s a guy in Madison Park who’s been playing WoW almost nonstop for years at one of the flagship stores. But it isn’t free, and internet you pay for isn’t really a hot item in the most wired city in the country.
But as if it weren’t enough to have to pay for internet there, Starbucks is revamping their system to create a wi-fi access point of unprecedented complexity. Instead of doing something like selling vouchers for a day, a month, or a year of wi-fi at any Starbucks, they are instituting a complicated rewards system, with tiers, drink privileges, and a bunch of other stuff involved.
What can I say about a program with a FAQ like this? You’re giving people stars, and moving them around levels? I can’t decide whether they’re trying to be Super Mario Galaxy or a first grade classroom. It’s completely ridiculous.
I think what they’re doing is just pushing pre-paid cards, because that forces you to go back to Starbucks more. And if there’s a free drink there for you after however many drinks, and the card is linked to your internet access, you’re kind of stuck with it. But really, why not just have verified punch cards for free drinks, and if you really must charge for internet, why not just sell blocks of time and have people log in through a gateway? This cumbersome Starbucks ecosystem is why people who dislike Starbucks do so. …Also, your espresso is thin and the drip sucks.
As a pre-paid starbucks card member for years I welcome this change. I was not going to carry 2 cards (gold and my pre-paid card) everywhere AND pay for the privilege, so this gives me gold card membership just by using the service (like an airline membership).
Caveat: My prepaid card is a company perk :)
It’s Starbucks. SHOCKING NEWS. Not really.
Seattle would be a great place to live and own one of those 1 mile range wifi cards. I can’t remember who makes them, but they’re about $50 on amazon and they have either good reviews or bad. Not really any in between. So it either works or it doesn’t. I’d rather pay another $30 for quality control, but meh.
Let me address a few points that came up when reading this article.
To be entirely honest, I enjoyed the article and agree with you on all points, but sadly the truth is that I do not live in Seattle. Nor do I leave in San Francisco, or NewYork, or any city even to qualify for a “wired” list. I live in SouthWest Florida, population the old and technologically impaired.
The local 24hour starbucks is just about the closest to an indie coffeehouse you will find in our area, it is very built up and very corporate all around. A system such of this will still be as wonky as it is everyone else, but atleast where I live it will come as a delightful change to the “pay or nothing” mantra that has been adopted by nearly everything in our area. Open networks have seemingly disappeared over night as businesses decided they either wanted privacy or just to charge for their internet.
I will often go to starbucks for a change of environment, order my coffee, sit down with my laptop that cannot access their internet and do offline work for an hour or two.
I already purchased the coffee, and if all it means is that i need to purchase another coffee later in the week to ensure free wifi, then I am all for it.
Thank you
certainly fair enough! my issue isn’t with starbucks really, but with the ridiculous system they’re proposing. If it’s the only cafe with wifi around where you live, by all means go there and enjoy – I would too. But that doesn’t mean that this cumbersome card-and-tier system is a good way of going about giving back to their customers.
agreed. the entire system is extremely convoluted.
With Starbucks you can receive two hours for free, per day with a gift-card. That’s about as long as I can handle the Diana Krall CDs on repeat anyways.
Seriously? You’re complaining that Starbucks wants you to buy a cup of coffee to use their WiFi?
Wow.
Jeff Yablon
President & CEO
Answer Guy and Virtual VIP Computer Support, Business Change Coaching and Virtual Assistant Services
where does it say that?