Starbucks Announce Free WiFi For Rewards Card Holders
Source: Tom's Guide | Keywords: Starbucks, WiFi, Free | Themes: The Internet
Now we won’t say we didn’t see it coming, because quite frankly, we saw it coming but Starbucks has announced that it will give you free Wi-Fi in exchange for drinking coffee.
Starbucks Rewards card holders will be allowed up to 2 hours free wi-fi per day provided they have used the card at some stage during the 30 days prior to access.
However, there is some fine print that comes along with the deal, which of course puts a downer on the whole affair.
You can forget going to the bathroom while you’re connected. Those two free hours are a one time connect offer, so unless you plan on trusting the shady character with the swag bag at the next table to watch your coffee and your precious equipment, then you’d be best to visit the ladies/gents before you order your coffe.
The offer is also only a limited connection meaning as long as you’re only looking to check your emails or surf the web, then you’re good to go. However, if you want to chat or download something that isn’t via ftp, you can forget it.
It seems like a good idea at first and sure, it’s handy if you’re just looking to check your emails. Even with the limited browsing it’s going to be a lot of demand for this. According to eFlux Media, Starucks has seen a huge fluctuation in demand for Rewards cards. Looks like everyone wants that free WiFi.
AT&T took over the WiFi in Starbucks from T-Mobile and since then there have been a number of announcements in recent months regarding free WiFi and the iPhone. Unfortunately it seems of these announcements were a little quick off the mark with one of the stories being pulled from the AT&T website not long after it was published. Just before that AT&T accidentially turned on free WiFi for iPhoners. It was switched off a couple of days later.
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There are lots of coffee shops that already have free wi-fi... and no restrictions! For example, Caribou Coffee, Bruegger's... and plenty of others, chain shops and otherwise. Feels a little bit like a piece of "Apple iNews". Flashy company 'releases' a product/service that someone else already sells... but it's news because they say it's news.
Depending on where your at, Starbucks is the only place to get a decent expresso.. Also, I dont really like Starbucks as a company, sort of like Google, they are too "pc" for me, but they are a necessary evil and I'll take everything I can get from them for free..
But you see, it's only sort of free, and even then, partially useful:
1) You have to buy a Rewards Card for $5.
2) You have to buy something from Starbucks (presenting the Rewards Card) at least once a month to unlock web access.
3) It's only free for 2 hours a day.
4) There's a limit to what you can do on the internet.
Or I can go to the establishment *next door* to a Caribou Coffee that broadcasts free wi-fi, sign in with my email address (which they have yet to send spam to) and do whatever I want, for as long as I want. Now *that's* free.
Please people - if you are going to Starbucks, you are spending $5 a month. Come one - the real crime is that people spend $2-$5 a workday at Starbucks - what is that, like $50 a month for many people, more than their home cable/DSL internet.