Hotspots

Lately I have found myself going to Starbucks and sitting around to discuss nothing much with R-dogg. Our conversation is quite interesting most of the time, but this week we've both been incredibly busy with work. So, I tried bringing my laptop to Starbucks in hopes I could use their wireless hotspot. Yes, I wanted to be those pretentious person sipping coffee and banging on a laptop.

Except Starbucks has completely fumbled the ball on hotspots. Rather than make it so people can have a nice amenity when they come in to drink their coffee, Starbucks has decided to profit from this venture and charge people for their wireless internet. When I saw 29.95 a month to use the internet, I almost lost it. What are they seriously thinking?

I barely pay more than 30 to have private internet in my apartment. Being a techie geek, I figured that Starbucks is probably paying close to 100 per store for the wireless hotspots, which means the markup on the wireless is about as much as the markup on their coffee.

If you were smart Starbucks, you would make the wireless free, like several other coffee places including Panera Bread. It's called customer appreciation, which in turn makes us want to buy your ridiculously overpriced coffee and pastries. Don't feel like every little thing in your coffeehouse is an opportunity to make money.