Starbucks is NOT offering free Wi-Fi
All over the internet today and even my the front page of the business section of my local paper are articles about Starbucks ditching long-time internet supplier T-Mobile and joining with AT&T to offer free Wi-Fi.
Non-cardholding customers can pay $3.99 for two hours — which, of course, will incent customers to get the debit card. Monthly membership will cost $19.99 per month, and will enable access to AT&T’s 70,000 hot spots in 89 countries.
That quote came from an article titled, Starbucks announces free Wi-Fi. I’m sorry, maybe I’m missing something here, but $19.99 per month for two hours of internet allowance a day or $3.99 for two hours for those of us not in the cool club is not free. As a consumer, I feel that I was misled.
I really wish writers would stick to the facts. There is not a whole lot of difference to the wallet of those who sit in Starbucks and want access to the internet. The only thing changing is who provides it.
I’ve really started to dislike how most drinks from Starbucks taste, but I do like their atmosphere and on occasion have sat there with my laptop and written articles for Randomn3ss or edited photos. I’m lucky though, the Starbucks a few miles from my house is in small strip mall, two doors down is a Panera Bread that offers free Wi-Fi to all customers, just agree to their TOS and deal with them blocking a few sites.
A note to Starbucks:
I, your customers agree to order coffee in those stupid names you give cups instead of small, medium and large. I also agree to pay three and four times the amount for your brown, burned tasting water that you call espresso. I will not agree to pay your bloated price to gain access to the internet when your competition less than 50 feet from you gives it away. Take notes.
Comments
Alice Roe
Excuse me, but don’t you think you are being misleading?
First off, by leaving T-Mobil, which is a contractual possibility and not simply ‘ditching’ as you imply, customers will now be able to get Wi-Fi on their laptops for cheaper rates than what was possible, with or without the debit card option. Let’s not forget, after all that T-Mobil charges $6.00 for just one hour, whether or not the minutes were fully used, and $0.10 per additional minute thereafter.
Secondly, Starbucks is a coffee company. By no means are they required to provide complimentary internet, nor at all, but they do, via T-Mobil. If people want to sit in Starbucks and use the internet, then they can, but since Starbucks is only a coffee company, the internet must be provided by a third party, whom is of course, at liberty to charge, or not for their services.
Thirdly, if your drinks are not up to par with your standards then you always have the option to politely ask your barista if he or she wouldn’t mind making them again. They will say yes. They will always say yes. And they won’t charge a penny for the remake. If you are regularly receiving bad espresso or bad coffee, have you considered the fact that shots of espresso burn themselves within 10 seconds of being brewed. Drinking shots straight up, or in americano form lends the shots to burn themselves before you ever drink them, whilst getting drinks with milk, soy, or other types of ingredients in the base keeps shots of espresso from expiring. If you think your latte, mocha, or any other drink tastes bad, or just off, ask the barista who made it to do it again, this time adding the milk or other ingredient within the 10 second timeframe of peak espresso flavor. Espresso is supposed to taste strong and carmelly-sweet with a nice bitter feeling around the edges of the tongue and back of the throat. Starbucks’ espresso, which uses latin american and asia-pacifica beans exemplifies that. Before anyone over-estimates your coffee knowledge, know also that espresso isn’t just brown, its carmel-colored, and when correctly made, swirls layers of flavor in each shot.
As a final note, to you the obviously non-Starbucks customer, the sizes: short, tall, grande, and venti, originate form Italian. Italy, of course, being where Starbucks founder and once-again CEO (he’s coming back from his retirement), Howard Shultz, so famously was inspired by coffee shops and cafes to make his own in Seattle. Starbucks is the ‘third place’, away from home or working obligations, where people can relax and connect to each other without worrying about other things. I doubt Panera Bread can say that.
(PS correct spelling and word usage also lend themselves to a stronger-sounding argument, even though all your information is incorrect or misleading. Next time, try using spell-check before you post such an ignorant, biased, and insulting low-blow about anything.)
Mike Panic
Starbucks is a coffee company. By no means are they required to provide complimentary internet, nor at all, but they do, via T-Mobil. If people want to sit in Starbucks and use the internet, then they can, but since Starbucks is only a coffee company, the internet must be provided by a third party, whom is of course, at liberty to charge, or not for their services.
You are correct, however most major news outlets are reporting that Starbucks is offering free internet – the reality is, it is not free.
Thirdly, if your drinks are not up to par with your standards then you always have the option to politely ask your barista if he or she wouldn’t mind making them again. They will say yes. They will always say yes. And they won’t charge a penny for the remake.
I can only speak for the few Starbucks I have been in recently in my area and a few in the Lower East Side Manhatten, there is no such thing as a barista anymore, they runn fully automatic machines. The only barista-like thing they need to do is steam / stretch milk.
If you are regularly receiving bad espresso or bad coffee, have you considered the fact that shots of espresso burn themselves within 10 seconds of being brewed. Drinking shots straight up, or in americano form lends the shots to burn themselves before you ever drink them, whilst getting drinks with milk, soy, or other types of ingredients in the base keeps shots of espresso from expiring.
That defeats the purpose of drinking espresso or Americano. Mixing them with other things only changes and covers the flavors of the coffee itself.
Espresso is supposed to taste strong and carmelly-sweet with a nice bitter feeling around the edges of the tongue and back of the throat.
Espresso should never taste bitter. Bitter is a sign that the shot was pulled too fast or the water was too hot.
Starbucks’ espresso, which uses latin american and asia-pacifica beans exemplifies that.
Starbucks espresso tastes bitter because of how it was roasted.
Before anyone over-estimates your coffee knowledge, know also that espresso isn’t just brown, its carmel-colored, and when correctly made, swirls layers of flavor in each shot.
This color is often refered to as red or rust in color, it should be thick and almost syrupy in texture and have a nice head of crema on it.
Alice, this article was about the actual truth to a reaction of what I saw in major news outlet headlines. The headlines and quotes I made read, “Starbucks announces free Wi-Fi.” This is not the case, as one must still pay for time used. The rest was my rant on how I don’t like the drinks they make. You may also want to take not that I’ve already made an investment towards a better cup of coffee and the small investment was well worth it.
I haven’t had the time to do the follow up to those two articles, but in the last two months or so I have also purchased a La Pavoni Europiccola lever espresso machine, a Le’lit conical burr, doserless, stepless grinder and had a custom machined all brass tamper made. I use beans from a local roaster that I buy two to four days after roast to allow for proper degassing or order from places like Sweet Marias. My boss also craft roasts small batchs and now and again I’m lucky enough to get some. Most of what I drink are single origin, not blends and I tend to prefer beans from Costa Rica, Rwanda and Bolivia. I grind as needed, 12 grams for my double portafilter as measured on a digital kitchen scale so that my shots taste about the same day in and day out. I prefer to drink Americanos in the morning because I like to sip coffee for longer periods of time, which works out well when I pull two double’s and add an additional four to five ounces of water, yielding about eight ounces in my cup. In the evening I tend to drink straight shots of espresso after dinner as the sweet taste is my dessert.
Starbucks is the ‘third place’, away from home or working obligations, where people can relax and connect to each other without worrying about other things. I doubt Panera Bread can say that.
This is somewhat up for debate. In major cities like New York City, I’ll agree that Starbucks is a third place, but this is not the case across the country. In my city, we have two stand alone Starbucks, i.e., not inside a bookstore. We also have four or five Panera Breads which, on average, are triple the size and allow for much more seating area than Starbucks. In my particular case, there is a Starbucks and Panera Bread in the same strip mall, their front doors are less than 30 yards from each other. The Starbucks is long and narrow, no large tables, can mabye hold 30 people. The Panera bread is triple in size and can easily seat 90-100 people, has a fire place, couches, etc. I would rather meet with two or more people at this particular Panera Bread because there is more room.
Lastly, I’d like to cover the first thing you touched on, Starbucks being a coffee company.
Starbucks is only a coffee company, the internet must be provided by a third party, whom is of course, at liberty to charge, or not for their services.
This may have been true 10 years ago, today, Starbucks is an experiance, a place to have your senses wow’d. A place where one can buy music, food and other items. You are also correct that a third party must be used to get wireless internet there, and they do not have to do this. They can however, offer it as a value added service, like Panera Bread does and many small, independent coffee shops do, even my local grocery store offers free Wi-Fi. Why do these places offer it? It is an attempt to get you in the store and keep you there, offering you something you want in exchange for the possibility that you will get a second drink, some munchies or something else other than what you wanted when you first came in. Some small coffee shops I know of have free books for you to read, take with you and bring back or leave one you’ve already read in them. Same concept. Starbucks chose their particular business model to make money, not because they had the best interest of their customers in mind.
(PS correct spelling and word usage also lend themselves to a stronger-sounding argument, even though all your information is incorrect or misleading. Next time, try using spell-check before you post such an ignorant, biased, and insulting low-blow about anything.)
Sorry, grammar isn’t my strong suit and I have no problem being called out on that. I will look over the article and try to fix the errors. By the way, ignorant implies not-knowing. I don’t think I am in this manor. Biased? Sure, but it’s my site, my opinion, I’m allowed to. The headline clearly states, Random thoughts, expressions, complaints. Insulting low-blow? What in here is insulting or a low-blow?
peter
wow that person who commented first is a bitch. so i bought a card today and got the internet and shit… i was online for over 2 hours. are they gonna charge me?
Papa Giorgio
Thanks for the post… good stuff! I – like you – enjoy the atmosphere more than the coffee. When I have my netbook on me I steer clear of them and find elsewhere to enjoy coffee and conversation and truly free internet access. Part of the reason (not all but again, part) I bought my netbook was this fact, that I really enjoy the conversation and debate that is usually started at this establishment if I have my books out (systematic theology, apologetics, political-science, philosophy, etc) and I wanted access to my Word docs and my website. Oh well, it makes me search out mom & pop places that offer it truly free to compete one more way with the giants in the coffee “atmosphere.”
from, “Cannot Find Signal”