Mashable - The Social Media Guide - Latest Comments in Starbucks and AT&T Officially Cut The Ribbon For Free Wi-Fi

Re: Starbucks and AT&T Officially Cut The Ribbon For Free Wi-Fi

Johanna Kramer — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:07:25 -0000

I have to admit "I hate Starbucks." How is it that a Corporate Company of its size has the audacity to charge its patrons for Wifi. This is 2009 friends and I now go to my local coffee shop where the Barista's know all their locals and Wifi is not a gimmick to get you to buy a card. Wifi is free free free, they want their guests to enjoy their visit. Stay and get some work done, enjoying your "free" Wifi and while you're at it, you'll probably end up purchasing another coffee or bagel........who woulda thunk it!!

Re: Starbucks and AT&T Officially Cut The Ribbon For Free Wi-Fi

The Tuesday Night Tech Show — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:00:19 -0000

Or they could (and should) take the Panera route and just make it free for God's sake already. Why do we have to go through these hoops just to use wifi? Thank God my iPhone has non-wifi access so I don't have to play these dumb games to get wifi. Completely stupid on Starbuck's part.

Re: Starbucks and AT&T Officially Cut The Ribbon For Free Wi-Fi

Christen Bouffard — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:16:36 -0000

Breugger's has wifi? I need to check that out!

Re: Starbucks and AT&T Officially Cut The Ribbon For Free Wi-Fi

Stu — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:47:33 -0000

If my memory serves right, certainly in the UK free Wifi (or cheap) has been a bit of a problem for some coffee houses with remote workers turning them into free offices. Pretty cheap rent if you only buy a couple of cups of coffee a day!

So this might explain some of the restrictions on the Starbucks deal and Christopher's point is fair enough, Starbucks (or anyone else) don't have to do this.

I am particularly interested in the effect this might have on mobile phone usage. After all get a phone with Wifi built and use Skype or Gizmo and its the chance to make very cheap mobile phone calls!

Re: Starbucks and AT&T Officially Cut The Ribbon For Free Wi-Fi

stephanie — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 21:57:47 -0000

I'm with Paul...

"The initiative was put into the corporate pipeline in the hopes that doing so would increase traffic to its stores, which are said to be in great need of reviving."

Errrr... try serving better coffee?

Re: Starbucks and AT&T Officially Cut The Ribbon For Free Wi-Fi

Christopher — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:38:30 -0000

{Beating a dead horse}

I'm surprised that no one has pointed out that Starbucks has never described the WiFi benefit as being free. Take a look at their website.

And so much moaning about having to jump through hoops, blah blah blah! It takes less than 30 seconds - less time than some of the websites we all sign up on for free invites right?

This is a publicly traded company that has grown from a single store operation to a multi-billion dollar corporation with employee benefits that are highly regarded for a company of their size - give them credit for trying to do some things right and with balance. Perhaps if Tully's put the cost of WiFi on the customer's or provider's shoulders they could have the IPO they've been dreaming about for at least 3 years.

Bottom line: WiFi isn't a birthright, and most of us already pay for it somewhere anyways. I'm glad they found a way to offer something back to the customers without having to add it to their bottom line.

Now, back to my Grande Iced Coffee...

www.Starbucksters.com/blog

Re: Starbucks and AT&T Officially Cut The Ribbon For Free Wi-Fi

Steve McCracken — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 19:54:22 -0000

Disappointing. All these hoops to jump through ruin the customer experience, and that's what their "third place" strategy is all about.

Get it straight guys. Free with an asterisk isn't compelling here. Make it free. Fill the stores. You'll sell more coffee.

Re: Starbucks and AT&T Officially Cut The Ribbon For Free Wi-Fi

PaulGlazowski — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 19:29:36 -0000

techshaman,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if your local coffee shop serves better coffee and a wider assortment of great food than the typical Starbucks haunt, then you're likely not the type Starbucks is trying to bring over to their side with this program.

Given that Starbucks is run by generally slow-moving corporate suits (it's no small, agile business by any means), they're probably seeing that most people will not spend 2 consecutive hours a day in a location, and so they are not offering anything over 2 consecutive hours of "free" access. (Free is relative. If you consistently purchase $5 or more worth of coffee from Starbucks every month, access is technically free. If you buy a single short cup of the house blend, no accessories, over the course of 30 days, you're paying about $2-3 for access. If you purchase nothing, and simply maintain your card as is, it's $5. However you put it, it seems a very small price to pay, given that the minimum hourly wage in the US is about $5.25, give or take.

Furthermore, Starbucks likely doesn't want you to spend more than 2 hours at any of their locations. They want as many customers in a day as possible. Lots of in-and-out is better than in-and-stay- for-a-while.

All in all, sure, you can argue that Starbucks isn't giving you truly free access. But you can argue otherwise, too. It's all relative, really. And even if they are charging, that's no crime. It may not suit everyone, but it'll probably suit enough to prove viable in the long run.

Re: Starbucks and AT&T Officially Cut The Ribbon For Free Wi-Fi

Guest — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:30:56 -0000

Can you say marketing fiasco? How about clueless, monolithic corporate attempt to cash in on the word FREE and the demand of the market for truly free access?

This would be laughable if it weren't so gross; and, as Jason suggested above, a misrepresentation of the offer. It's not free. Even if I only have to give up my email address, it's still not free. It seems even the big boys aren't above using shady, snake-oil techniques for getting a sale.

And apparently they still haven't figured out that WI-FI users stay longer and tend to buy more. You want me to pay for the privilege of buying more coffee and brownies in your store?

They don't listen to the market. There are, as mentioned above, many places to get free, unencumbered WI-FI all over most major and minor cities.

The number of requirements is a phenomenal joke. As I read each one, my incredulous eyes opened ever wider at each additional arm twist:

1. purchase a Starbucks Card with a minimum of $5 (not free)
2. register for the Starbucks Rewards Card program at the companyâ€™s website (giving up your email and probably mailing address, a valuable commodity in this day and age.)
3. limited to 2 "free" hours each 24 hour period.
4. have to use their Starbucks cards at least once a month
5. require the daily Wi-Fi freebie to be enjoyed within two consecutive hours

And o yeah, you get a voucher for a "free" drink.

Obviously they wouldn't do this if there weren't $1 billion and more in it for them. The real question is, why does the market put up with this?

My solution? If I really want Starbucks, stop in and buy my venti half-caf decaf latte with a twist of lemon (kidding! that actually sounds awful), and then go hang out at the free WI-FI spot just about anywhere else in the city (where I will gladly buy as much of THAT proprietor's lovely foodstuffs as my stomach will hold).

In reality, I won't go out of my way for a Starbucks at all. If I need coffee and free wireless, I'll skip the Starbucks altogether and go straight to my local coffee shop which serves better coffee and a wider assortment of great food.

Of course, I'm probably in the minority.

They will probably make billions. I wonder why?

Re: Starbucks and AT&T Officially Cut The Ribbon For Free Wi-Fi

Sam — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:59:35 -0000

There are significant connectivity issues occuring right now. There is a HUUUUGE bug in that if you sign up and use ANY capital letters you will get two different account names. The Starbucks account will retain the caps and the AT&T account will strip the caps out. So when you go and try to log in the accounts will NOT synchronize.

I spent about a hour between AT&T and Starbucks techs right now and nobody could get my account to work because of this problem and one side cannot change the other sides account info.

Re: Starbucks and AT&T Officially Cut The Ribbon For Free Wi-Fi

Christopher — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:54:58 -0000

I honestly could care less if it's free, but for those folks who complain about the price of gas maybe this is will send them over the edge. Couple of suggestions:

1. You can pad your time by registering multiple cards. I explain how on my blog, www.Starbucksters.com/blog

2. The requirement is that you use your card every 30 days. Most people think they have to keep reloading it, but there's a trick: After you get the card (which does require a 1-time $5 purchase), whenever you purchase something, hand the barista your card and have the payment added to it and then swipe the card to pay for the purchase. You get the credit for using your card but no additional monies are being added to it.

Peace

Re: Starbucks and AT&T Officially Cut The Ribbon For Free Wi-Fi

Deralaand — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:22:18 -0000

My local Starbucks has three overlapping Wi-Fi networks from various other businesses (including McDonalds) how will they entice these users to pay to surf?

Next up: Lead lined Starbucks. "To protect customers from Ultraviolet radiation."

Re: Starbucks and AT&T Officially Cut The Ribbon For Free Wi-Fi

Chris — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:02:54 -0000

Starbucks doesn't get it. This is what they come up with after a feedback social network they have at their site. It is ridiculous, I will stay with Breugger's or McDonald's they have great coffee and free wi-fi, no restrictions.

Re: Starbucks and AT&T Officially Cut The Ribbon For Free Wi-Fi

Jason — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:14:22 -0000

Since when does "free" mean "included with purchase"? It seems to me that it's at least $5/mo.

Re: Starbucks and AT&T Officially Cut The Ribbon For Free Wi-Fi

The Little League Coach — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:38:38 -0000

This is way to complicated. Why would anyone do this? It simply makes me conduct my meetings elsewhere where wifi is truly free and easy to access.

Re: Starbucks and AT&T Officially Cut The Ribbon For Free Wi-Fi

joel cohen — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:28:11 -0000

Why don't they just make it free. No restrictions. Thank God for Panera and even McDonald's.

joel

Re: Starbucks and AT&T Officially Cut The Ribbon For Free Wi-Fi

harpless — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:20:05 -0000

given all those restrictions I doubt it'll bring in a lot of new customers, free wifi isn't that hard to find.