Monday, June 14, 2010

Free Wi-Fi at Starbucks

Starbucks now says they'll be offering free Wi-Fi at their stores starting 7/1. Hopefully it really will be free, not requiring registration, etc. For the last couple years I've never gone to Starbucks if there was a Panera nearby since, even if I wasn't interested in Wi-Fi that particular day, I've felt that Panera deserves some support and loyalty due to their free Wi-Fi. Of course, Panera also offers a much better variety of food. I'm not a coffee drinker, so that doesn't enter into my considerations. Interestingly, the USAT article (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2010-06-14-starbucks-wi-fi_N.htm) says that this is to compete with McDonalds. I have gone to McDonalds for free Wi-Fi, but it's typically very loud and not a pleasant place to be, so I've never viewed them as competitors.

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