Panera Bread Is The Largest Provider Of Free WiFi 350
ayb11 writes "According to this article, the Panera Bread chain of Bakery/Cafes (think Starbucks that bakes their own bread) is the largest provider of free WiFi in the US. Their web site says, " There are currently 573 Wi-Fi enabled Panera Bread bakery-cafes, from California to Virginia. More are added every day." (Even my retired dad takes his barely-used laptop over there so he can get free refills on coffee.) Their full list of hotspots is here."
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Allowed me to stop paying Starbucks/B&Noble (Score:5, Interesting)
Course, there was that time when someone sniffed/watched-over-my-shoulder while I was paying my bills and the next day I had to dispute a bunch of charges... but for just hanging out, a great place.
Had hoped they could force T-Mobile to be more competitive, but this isnt something new and last I looked Starbucks still had ridiculous fees.
Re:Well it isn't that expensive (Score:4, Interesting)
I agree. I travel a lot so I am usually living out of hotels and eating in resturaunts. One of the fist things I look for in a city is a convenient resturaunt to go to that has free wifi, good food, and at least one decent beer on tap.
I'll take it (Score:1, Interesting)
I've seen a number of laptop's there some days. It's also good to know where I can get both food and WiFi when on the road. It's like A/C was years ago, a cost of doing business if you wanted people in your store.
Just a little tidbit of information (Score:2, Interesting)
Panera based in St. Louis (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Its not really free (Score:5, Interesting)
I helped make this happen :) (Score:5, Interesting)
Not only did they respond, but they actually left me on the list as they kept hitting reply-all and I got to hear all the details about the progress of the mall's wiring that was holding them back (they told me they had to wait for work being done on the mall).
The service was actually activated months before they told me that it would. I've used it several times since then. Very nice! Now if I could only bring myself to take up a table for 3 hours while enjoying a single bagel...
First post...from Panera WiFi! :) (Score:2, Interesting)
Bread? (Score:1, Interesting)
The best bread I've had is from Bread Alone [breadalone.com]. All others crumble in comparison. Their pumpernickel is the real thing, not the fake rye with charcoal and caramel coloring. Unfortuantely I can't get it here in MA so I'm making do with lesser bread. And don't get me started on bagels. Real bagels, not the bread dough ones. Genuine water bagels, the kind Daniel Pinkwater says you can crack a tooth on.
Re:Its not really free (Score:3, Interesting)
That said, I've heard the local WiFi doesn't work quite often, but it's not the WiFi router, but their local 'Net connection.
Re:What about linksys (Score:3, Interesting)
Good point.
I've often wondered if Linksys could include a coupon with their wireless routers that allowed you to become a hotspot on their network. You would sign up, it would turn your router into a captive portal, you would be able to add your own computers, and other people would be charged a monthly fee and authenticated against Linksys's servers. Then you'd get a share of the profits. Given how widespread their routers are, this could be a good situation for the router owners, the users, and Linksys.
So slow and censored too (Score:3, Interesting)
Personally, I prefer the starbucks cafe that is practically next door to our Panera. It is $4.00 for two hours but basically is good enough to be like my Adelphia service at home. I haven't tried the local Daily Grind's (Virginia's Starbucks competitor chain) but they have free WiFi and knowing them I bet that it's at least decent.
In the end you get what you pay for. If I am going to be actually staying at a place for longer than to check my email, then I want something reliably usable. At Panera, I am paying indirectly because they factor the cost of the cheap WiFi into their food. At starbucks in our Barnes & Nobles, I don't even have to buy anything other than the access. Not only that, I like Starbucks coffee more than Panera's.
It's one of the great things about living in a growing college town. 25% of our population are college students and that means that local businesses can easily afford to provide these services cheaply or for free. All of our laptops are configured with WiFi cards now because the school has I think between 30 and 50 WiFi points at least now. Though ironically those stuck on campus cannot have WiFi in their dorms, even if they use 128bit WAP and restrict IP addresses.
It's a great business model (Score:3, Interesting)
Ponder this. For $60, they get their broadband. Pop in the access point and a gateway and you're good to go. That's it. A one time charge of maybe a couple hundred bucks (including labor) and recurring cost of $60, you'll be getting people coming day in and day out JUST because you've got free wifi. I know companies that have blown ten times that amount on marketing that brought zilch in revenue. This is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to bring people into your establishment.