Re: New Public Hotspot Setup

Lots of good food for thought there. What concerns me too, is that freebie users are more likely than others to download porn or do illegal things that can't be traced to them but you betcha can be traced to my IP.



Jeff Liebermann wrote:
Johann <gmwemail-dsp@xxxxxxxxx> hath wroth:

Thanks for the suggestion. Just curious - why do you advocate providing free access? No other HotSpot in my area is free.

Well, if you're looking for sources of revenue, might as well make
lemonade out of lemons. The lemons are the non-revenue generating
customers that monopolize a table with their laptops, sipping on cup
one coffee for many hours. If you find yourself short on available
tables for paying customers, a quick look at what the laptop users are
buying should offer a clue.

However, all is not lost. In some countries (France) customers rent
tables in coffee shops and use them for an office. I've considered
renting one for my own business as I could easily deal with spyware
removal and Windoze updates any place I have a high speed connection.
I rent a table in your establishment, put up a small sign offering my
services, and the coffee shop gets some more revenue. I'll leave the
rate structure to your imagination.

Even if you don't decide to rent tables, it would be interesting to
add it to the rate card. That should give the table hogs a clue as to
what's expected. You might also want to add "wireless tech support"
to the menu as answering question about the wireless might be a
problem.

Now, if you want publicity, consider charging for the use of the
wireless by the pound. Put a weight scale at the counter, weigh the
PDA or laptop, and charge proportionally on the logic that heavy
weight laptops occupy more table space and should therefore pay more.
That should get your coffee shop mentioned in the local newspapers
just prior to you discontinuing the practice.

As for free wireless, I'm all in favor of having someone else pay for
my connectivity. It doesn't really matter whom as long as it's not
me.

Another joy of free and open wireless is the neighbors and
freeloaders. I was at a local coffee and munchie place last night and
noticed 3 cars across the street, with drivers in the front seat,
banging on their laptops. Obviously, they didn't buy anything. They
just wanted to use the free wireless. Same with the nearby neighbors.
One of the hot spots I help maintain has a little monitor routine I
scribbled. It displays the connection count. The owner then counts
physical laptops in the coffee shop. Invariably, there are more
connections than visible customers with laptops, usually in the
parking lot. Perhaps this might be a clue as to why few businesses
offer free wireless.

Oh, whatever you do, make sure you have "client isolation" or some
similar feature enabled. (Linksys calls it "AP isolation"). This
will prevent wireless clients from seeing each other so that you don't
have someone walk in with a laptop full of viruses and attack everyone
elses laptop in the shop.

.

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