Starbucks offers free Wi-Fi in U.S. & Canada

[markopolo]

From the Toronto Star

http://www.thestar.com/article/830382-- ... -in-canada

In mid-June Starbucks announced free Wi-Fi would be coming to the U.S.

and, in Canada

Starting on Canada Day, more than 750 Starbucks locations across the country will offer free Wi-Fi, the company said Wednesday. More than 100 of those locations are in Toronto.

[Davydd]

Apple iPhone users have always had free wifi at Starbucks and McDonalds. They both this year have converted over to free for everyone. Starbucks is also going to one click meaning you don't have to sign in to use it. The iPhone even had a solution to that previously with an app that did it transparently for you. So, I won't notice any differences. I'll be using my iPad more.

[Mike]

Finally, truly no strings attached free wifi for the masses.
I'd imagine you won't be able to get a seat in one (SBs or McDs) anymore with all the
laptops and users all over the place. Parking may be harder to find too, as more people just park
and surf free from the comfort of their vehicles. Not to mention the increased bandwidth usage
which may grind many of their routers/access points down to a slow trickle, from the old
reasonably fast response times, once people start downloading music and movies through them.
Personally, I'm not sure it's going to be a good thing, but I'll wait and see.
I still like the coffee and food, though.

[Davydd]

It won't be long before wifi will be everywhere. The city of Minneapolis, for instance, is totally wired for residents who can get on anywhere for a monthly fee. In addition the city created 117 public free wifi hotspots outdoors where anyone can get on. Of course the coming 4G will also help. Being on the internet will just become natural everywhere. I suspect McDonalds and Starbucks understand this and figure they can make more hay now by offering wifi free than continuing to charge.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Davydd

It won't be long before wifi will be everywhere. The city of Minneapolis, for instance, is totally wired for residents who can get on anywhere for a monthly fee. In addition the city created 117 public free wifi hotspots outdoors where anyone can get on. Of course the coming 4G will also help. Being on the internet will just become natural everywhere. I suspect McDonalds and Starbucks understand this and figure they can make more hay now by offering wifi free than continuing to charge.

As you say, I think McDs and SBs just fell into this, as a part of their on-going secret coffee war.
"They're doing it, so we better follow..."
I hope the quality of the service isn't ruined by the universal availability now. Perhaps they
have some sort of throttling software in place to "share the bandwidth".
I didn't mind having a coffee, while catching up on email and even doing some basic banking
while we were mobile. It wasn't usually crowded wherever (SB) we'd stop for some java and wifi.