Starbucks Drops T-Mobile For AT&T 207
stoolpigeon writes "Ars reports that Starbucks is replacing T-Mobile with AT&T as their Wi-Fi provider. AT&T broadband customers will be able to access the service for free. Starbucks card users will get 2 hours a day free. 2-hour, daily, and monthly rates will be lower than they were with T-Mobile. Starbucks says that their previously announced deal to tie in with iTunes will continue under AT&T. For now AT&T isn't offering free Wi-Fi to iPhone users, but says it expects to accommodate them soon. Quoting the article: 'The companies didn't specify exactly when the rollout would begin, only saying that it would take place this spring... [The company plans] to install all new equipment at Starbucks as part of this agreement, so the changeover won't be as simple as flipping a switch.'"
Re:'bout bloody time (Score:4, Interesting)
Great news.. (Score:4, Interesting)
For the 'just use free hotspots' crowd, my area generally has no coffee shops other than at Barnes & Noble and Starbucks. Both charge for their Wifi. We also have Burger Kings and Panara Bread with free internet. Unfortunately my area Burger King's don't have open power outlets and smell like burgers; Panara Bread requests that patrons limit their sessions to 30-minutes, and at least where I am, have had sub-par connectivity.
Ties in very nicely for AT&T DSL customers (Score:5, Interesting)
Handy, that.
If I was still paying $20/month to T-Mobile this'd sure be the end of it. What's left in their network besides Borders bookstores?
In the "So What" School here (Score:5, Interesting)
Honestly, I was not even aware that there were still wifi coffee shops that you had to pay for internet access. Is that a Bay Area thing? In the Fort Collins CO area, most coffee shops I have been around have free wifi with no time limits.
Seriously.. small shops have been doing this for years. DSL is down in the $20/month range and a wireless router is cheap. I suspect that the administrative overhead of managing a system like this one for Starbucks is not really worth the effort. Starbucks may have made their money on the T-Mobile deal, but I doubt it. IIRC, it was a $500 mill contract. And, a quick websearch shows a series of price cuts.
Here's one from 2003:
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/news/article.php/1855971 [wi-fiplanet.com]
"In the original story regarding the price drop, Starbucks New Ventures Director Lovina McMurchy is quoted as saying that even the busiest Starbucks shops get about 20 Wi-Fi devices on the network per day. While T-Mobile doesn't release cost information for providing the hotspot, the revenue generated from so few customers is probably not enough to cover costs of a high speed line -- the T-Mobile Hotspots are served by costly T1 lines -- and the revenue sharing between T-Mobile, Starbucks, and HP, which provides some software for the services."
http://www.lockergnome.com/mobile/2006/03/09/t-mobile-answers-the-cries-of-starbucks-owners/ [lockergnome.com]
"All the mom-and-pop coffee shops offer free Wi-Fi. In fact, most everyone does except Starbucks. The Seattle-based coffee house gets its hotspot piped in by T-Mobile. It's been reported for years that store managers at Starbucks has been complaining to upper management for a while about losing business because customers don't want to pay for their Internet after forking out $4 on a foo-foo drink."
Here's my favorite:
http://www.forbes.com/2007/02/23/fonbucks-wifi-starbucks-ent_cx_mc_0226fonbucks.html [forbes.com]
"FON, a community WiFi provider headquartered in Madrid, Spain, is offering wireless Internet access to Starbucks' latte-sipping surfers for just $2 a day--versus the $10 users pay to sign onto the 5,100 T-Mobile hotspots at U.S. Starbucks (nasdaq: SBUX - news - people ).
Just how does FON plan to steal away Starbucks Internet users? By offering FON wireless routers, also known as "La Foneras," free to anyone who lives above or next to a Starbucks. The routers, which usually cost $40, split an Internet broadband connection into two wireless signals--one for personal Internet use and the second for public use, which can be accessed by anyone within range for $2 per day. The routers' owners get to pocket half of the sign-on fee, and FON takes home the rest."
Panera (Score:2, Interesting)
And I work at a Starbucks... (Score:3, Interesting)
Now, when it comes to that occasional "I need to check my email" or what have you, the T-mobile price and 'service' is just disgusting. 10$ a day, or 30$ a month?! Yeah, it's that bad. It's not like they have any choices here, do they? Well, yes, they do. All our Subways offer free wifi, as does a popular pizza chain, as does ALL the hotels in our area, as does other coffee shops, as does even the bar.
Yeah, Starbucks is premium and all, and I can understand that. However, what seems simple is to print off the WEP key on a receipt so paying customers have free access. Our server could be easily tied into that kind of setup, in that it would provide no impact on us partners: we see this kind of integration in the drive thru stores, along with the "Bean Screens", and some stores the sticker machines.
And I wouldn't see customers get disgruntled over paying 2$ for a cup of coffee then immediately going to Subway for their email.. We simply don't have the complete package that other coffee houses do.
How does it affect WiFi @Home (T-Mobile) customers (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Hooray? (Score:3, Interesting)
And in most cities, Starbucks are usually too crowded - too many people loitering around for the wifi would only make it worse.
If you are really desperate, just buy an EVDO card from one of the providers, and you can have Internet wherever you want (well, almost). And if you are like me, on the road a lot, it is worth its weight in gold.
Re:Headline is completely wrong (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm a subscriber to a pretty substantial package of T-Mobile services. I have been happy with their service offerings, and their customer service has been outstanding. I can't help but wonder, though, as they fail to get the iPhone and start losing valuable partnerships like Starbucks, whether the benefits of their excellent service will start to mean less if they don't provide offerings with major partners like Apple. When these kind of alliances create unique opportunities, it is a path to monopoly - think Microsoft.
Re: Closing Out of Restaurants (Score:3, Interesting)
1. If you're a regular, order when the server first appears.
2. The moment they bring the order, ask for the bill.
3. While they're away, get your credit card in hand.
(You can now go back to your meal.)
4. When they arrive with the bill, snap the card down pronto.
(Continue with your meal.)
5. Your tip is $2 if your meal is up to $15.00, $3 if your meal is up to $22.
*Your* time is worth more than agonizing over the calculation.
If you didn't want to be spending up to $25 including tip on a meal,
you would have never entered at all.
About the time you're done with your meal, this whole sidebar transaction is done.
The service provided for the $18 meal is usually the same as the $22 meal, so it justifies the same tip. Since you declined the need for extra service visits, you compensate for the couple points below the 15% mark on the $22 tip.
Re:'bout bloody time-Free reading material. (Score:4, Interesting)
It could be architectural that there are no outlets, or it could be strategic ultimately.
Re:Hooray? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Hooray? (Score:2, Interesting)
Also, at a diner, you might be able turn a table over every 30 minutes. At a nice, elegant restaurant, you may only turn the table over two, *maybe* three times a night depending on scale. People eating an expensive meal tend to like to sit, talk and enjoy the food rather than getting quick body-fuel. That requires more attention and round-trips to make sure everything is going well, drinks are filled, etc.
Waiting tables is a Hell job. Long hours on your feet (I used to do 6 doubles@16+ hours each and a dinner on the 7th day) and being barked at by inconsiderate jackasses make it a largely thankless job. If you can get things as efficient as possible, your customers will appreciate it and tip in kind. If you just try to get through the hours, it will show and reflect in your tips. Those servers that just try to grind through without regard to their customers don't deserve 15%. Their choice to work in a customer-oriented business while note caring about said customers does not require me to subsidize their life. Remeber TIP = To Insure Prompt/Proper Service.
That said, I regularly earned 20% average per shift; on everything from $10 lunches to $500 two person dinners. I tip the same when I am being served. Good service to me will get you a minimum 20%. With supremely excellent service, I typically ignore the percentage completely and have been know to leave well over 100%.
Any place offering free wifi should have a person that will swing through the dinning room to ask if people want anything else. Put up a sign that says "complementary wifi with service" or some such. Make it an honor system and police it when you're not totally slammed.
Re:Hooray? (Score:3, Interesting)
And as I've said to others before, there are compelling reasons for some folks.
For me, its mostly about convenience, quality, consistency, and ubiquity.
Everywhere I go in the city, or across the country, there's a starbucks. And I'm going there anyway to get my coffee, so the wifi is convenient. If I have to go hunting around for local coffee shops, and then the subsets of those that have free wifi, and then the subset of those where the wifi is actually up and functioning, I've spent far more than the $30 per month, in value of my time.
T-Mobile hotspots are pretty much always up, always work, and are always fast. The opposite is often true of the local shops. The wifi is down, or someone is bittorrenting off it, or the folks running it dont know any better and restart the network equip in the wrong order. I dont need that hassle, I want it to 'just work'. T-Mobile does this for me.
It's not for everybody, I agree. But with this combo, anywhere in the country I go I can find a good cup of coffee, and fast, reliable wifi that just works with no hassle. It's a no-brainer for $30 per month, at least in my case.
And those are the folks who they are appealing to.