Starbucks to Offer Free Wi-Fi Service | Hacker News Reader

Starbucks to Offer Free Wi-Fi Service

online.wsj.com

26 pointsjamesbritt41 comments

For a long time, I avoided Starbucks because they charged for wifi, but this year with their card, I can get free wifi and free refills.

I actually end up patronizing Starbucks more because, unlike the local places, I can be a horrible customer and only buy one $1.50 brewed coffee and stay a long time. When I go to a decent local cafe, I end up buying a lot more because I want them to stay in business (or because they're snooty and insist on it), but if Starbucks goes out of business, I don't care. Kind of weird how that works.

This is something that surprised me when I went to Spain and ate almost every meal in tiny family-owned restaurants. Rather than appreciate the closeness between owner and customer, I ended up just feeling awkward a lot (the owner/host would sometimes scold me for not ordering enough food) and I missed my old faceless American conglomerates, with their multiple layers of indirection between the shareholders and me.

It will be interesting to see what kind of impact this has on independent coffee shops and cafes.

People who typically spend $5-10 might migrate to Starbucks now.

For me, I also end up spending more at a local coffee shop since I also feel a little guilty if I don't leave something in the tip jar.

Paywall-less:

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB...

Does this redirect work with all of WSJ articles? Nice.

Nice indeed... Does anyone know if there is a browser plugin (pref. Chrome) to bypass the paywalls of popular sites?

This is a bookmarklet rather than a plugin, but just as good: http://mattbusse.com/bypass-the-wall-street-journal-paywall-...

Or, if you don't mind losing the layout, this bookmarklet will get you directly to the "mobile" version of the article without the intermediate click through Google: http://www.labnol.org/internet/read-wall-street-journal-arti...

Appending http://www.google.com/url?q= to the URL seems to be the key. Seems to be working fine.

Yeah, I might put together a browser plugin that does that to the current page URL when I hit a button!

Voilà bookmarklet; should work on all WSJ articles (and ones from other sites that also remove the wall for Google inbound links, I suppose):

javascript:window.location="http://www.google.com/url?q=+escape(window.location);

Awesome. Thanks.

BreakthePaywall! is a free add-on for Internet Explorer (Firefox coming soon!) that simplifies using the various methods for circumventing website paywall restrictions. http://www.breakthepaywall.com

Thanks. I didn't realize the link would be an issue. I think I came across it by way of Google News, so it probably had magic referer stuff going on.

And that's a handy redirection tool, too.

The wireless was/is free as long as you spend at least $5 per month. All you need is $5 on a gift card to enable the wireless for the month. So buy a $5 gift card and at the end of the month, spend that $5 and put $5 more on the card. Silly game and not so prominently advertised, but it works (as of a few month ago when I was last in the US).

Yeah, seriously, the WiFi has always been free for actual customers. The only thing that's different is that now it's free for homeless people too. I'm not really sure how this is an improvement.

Are homeless people with WiFi-enabled devices that much of an epidemic?

Because (1) lots of people didn't know that trick and (2) it's annoying to have to carry another card, login, etc, just to get some internet!

Actually, it's even easier than that. They don't even check that you use the card. I bought a $5 Starbucks card at least 18 months ago, and have used it since for free wi-fi at Starbucks despite having never used or refilled it since.

YMMV- I had a card go bad after not ordering more on it.

I'm posting this from a Stabucks in Buenos AIres where Wi-Fi is free and unlimited, as it is on 99% of other bars and restaurants here. Last time I was in NY, I had a hard time finding places with free Wi-Fi. I'll be there again in October, do you people have any recommendations of good bars/coffee houses with free WiFi?

I'm a big fan of Subtle Tea on Madison and 30th: http://subtleteastore.com/

But there are a ton of them around I don't know by name. Usually smaller places frown on non-customers using it, or using it on busy nights (Friday/Saturday after 9pm or so), but I haven't had an issue readily finding wifi to work during the day.

NYC is a pretty big place. Probably not much help to know of a joint in the Bronx or Staten Island if you're spending your time in Brooklyn or lower Manhattan.

Might be better to ask about free wifi in whatever area of the city you tend to visit.

The best coffee in NYC is at Roasting Plant in the West Village. They also have free WiFi and don't care how long you stay. Also, each seat/table has its own dedicated power outlet.

They used to be 24 hours too...I'm so sad they aren't anymore. Though I understand why..a lot of times after 1 or 2 AM it would just be me and one other dude sitting around through the night until business picked up in the early morning again.

They also have great dollar cookie dough shots.

They already do in Canada.

And in Germany. (1hr/day limit, you have to enter your phone number and then get sent a text message with the access code.)

They don’t seem to deploy their own infrastructure, T-Mobile operates their hotspots in Germany and you can pay them if 1hr isn’t enough for you.

NYT article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/15/technology/15starbux.html

Wait, McDonalds offers wifi?

Apparently it does. I learned about it today thanks to the Starbucks announcement.

Yeah, there's one next to my local Starbucks. I've been sitting close to the window in SB so I can mooch off of McDonald's signal.

Finally. It's about time Starbucks joined the rest of the world in this. I'd like to see this happen in a couple major airports I have to deal with also (Dulles cough cough). It's not like it really costs all that much, and I personally would be far more likely to frequent a Starbucks with free wi-fi.

The only thing in Vegas that is free is the wireless at the airport.

I always avoided Starbucks due to the two hour limit. Not that I often exceed it, but just on principle. Also it was always a hassle to have to use a gift card to get the free access.

I can see myself visiting Starbucks from now on.

I'm curious--did you actually ever exceed it? What I mean is, I've never encountered a Starbucks that actually enforced the 2 hour limit. Sometimes I'm logged out, but I just log back in and everything works. In the beginning I just assumed this was a glitch when they were rolling out the service, but if it was, they never fixed it. (I go to lots of Starbucks, mostly in San Francisco, and some around California.)

Finally a coffee shop I can mooch wifi off of all day on one drink and not feel bad..

You must not support local joints, almost every local coffee shop I've been to (in minneapolis specifically) has free Wi-Fi.

The point was, he would feel bad about mooching off local joints all day.

Yes, this is what I meant

I've been using their free wifi for a while now and I don't ever recalling them charging me.

An active gift card with them also gives you access.

I wonder if you will still have to make an account to get this free wifi.

As far as I can tell, the card only needs to be active when you register. My account continues to work long after the card has been inactive with a zero balance.

Creating an account is not all that bad. You only need to do it once and Mailinator email address are accepted :)

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