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December 8, 2003

The "Why" of Wi-Fi Changes

By Nancy Gohring

Wi-Fi hotspots aren’t about Interent access any more: Starbucks says that competition from free hotspots means it must offer unique services that will make customers want to use its hotspot. For now, those services are free even to non-subscribers but seem to be designed to encourage people to subscribe—or at least stick around for another coffee. The offerings have included an audio interview with Cheryl Crow and a video about blues musicians. Starbucks says it has a lot of “supersecret” plans for offerings over the network in the future.

This trend is very true. Hotspot operators who charge are going to have to offer something unique beside Internet access if they want to attract customers. Higher bandwidth than business-DSL or T-1 may have to be part of it.

Posted by nancyg at December 8, 2003 9:52 AM

Categories: Hot Spot

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Starbucks has "Supersecret" Plans for Commercial Hotspots Gotta love it. Starbucks will add audio interviews and videos (READ: ADVERTISEMENT) to... [Read More]

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