Starbucks begins free Wi-Fi access today. It’s available to customers who purchase a minimum $5 reloadable Starbucks Card, and use the card at least once a month. Users get two free hours daily.
Traffic and sales have been shrinking for months as founder Howard Schultz searches for a way to revive the brand, explains USA Today. He’s hoping the Wi-Fi freebie will attract more traffic to its 7,000 company-owned U.S. stores.
AT&T also enables qualifying LaptopConnect customers (using HSPA) to access more than 17,000 Wi-Fi hot spots free of charge, including Starbucks. When not in a hot spot, AT&T LaptopConnect cards operate on AT&T’s wireless network, which provides DSL-like speeds in more than 275 markets in the U.S.
Rival coffee chain Caribou Coffee, located in 15 states, will also offer free wireless service, the company said Tuesday. The service will be available to customers in over 80 percent of its stores through a partnership with Atlanta, Ga.,-based Wandering WiFi, a wireless service provider.
Starbucks and Barnes and Noble Wi-Fi hotspots are also expected to provide free internet access for iPhone users. Panasonic’s DMC-TZ50 Wi-Fi enabled camera ($450) includes twelve months of free access to T-Mobile’s Hotspots, after which time continued access requires a subscription. The $129 Eye-Fi Explorer SD card has a similar deal.
I’d be lax if I didn’t point out that Glenn Fleishman once said; Free Wi-Fi from Starbucks? Ha! Ain’t. Gunna. Happen.
