An interesting story over at the S.F. Chronicle. The story tells of how small business’ are leveraging wi-fi to increase foot traffic, and profits. Small business’ are getting new people to come in and stay longer (and buying more) by offering free wireless access to the internet. Big business is trying to do the same thing by offering wireless access in their business’s, but are charging customers for that access. But a lot of customers are refusing to pay for it when they can go somewhere that offers it for free; the article has a great quote about this:
Carstens said he equates hot spots in coffee shops with television sets in sports bars. “You don’t expect to pay to watch the game on the TV,” he said.
My favorite hot spot coffee shop is PB and J Cafe
That hotspot is provided by Sonic.net =)