For me, power has been MORE important than connectivity. I can check my email with my phone, but if I need to work on something I need my laptop which needs power. This became more important as my laptop's batteries aged. And then of course, what if your phone's dead. You don't need wi-fi, you need power.
Power is the salt lick... Circulation can be an issue (alt.coffee), but it can made a non-issue (put the outlets under the counter like at Coliseum Books). I'd be curious for some ballpark statistics about the penny cost of powering a laptop for 15 minutes. I might be willing to pay for the outlet, but I'd be happier doing what I do now: offsetting the cost with some frothy frou-frou coffee drink. Rob --- "Hammond, Robin-David%KB3IEN" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Not a bad idea. esp the shade one, with summer comming and all. > > Complementary power outlets seem to be a thorny issue, if coffee > shops > provide ready access to power, hotspots become areas of poor > circulation, > with all the issues that causes for buisness owners. > > I am curious: How many people reading this would be content using > free > wifi, but paying a hefty rate for the use of electricity (extending > your > indoor useage period beyond the life of your batteries), thereby > ensuring > that the buisness owners arn't penalized by allowing you access to > electricity? > > Anyone who NEEDs unblocked ports like tcp 25 can tunnel to thier home > > computer, or get a free shell. I dont want to see overly open APs > becoming > a source of anonymised spam. Blocked ports are probably a Good > Thing(tm) > but tracking who is responsable in this field (and who is not) may > help > boost awareness. > > Biggles! Fetch the comfy chair! > > > On Thu, 11 May 2006, Rob Kelley wrote: > > > Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 13:13:22 -0700 (PDT) > > From: Rob Kelley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: [nycwireless] Article: The right way to run a Wi-Fi cafe > > > > > [http://business.newsforge.com/business/06/05/02/1951202.shtml?tid=39&tid=92 > ] > > > > Some of this article was obvious but most of it wasn't, especially > to Joe Coffeeshop owner. > > > > My big thing is power outlets. I like places where they're > pentiful and easy to get to. > > > > In fact, I always thought it'd be cool to carry these > not-so-obvious facts about a hotspot like: > > > > 1. Indoor? Outdoor? > > 2. Shade? > > 3. Comfy chairs? > > 4. Power outlets? > > 5. Blocked ports? > > 6. # Available seats (I go to places where there are a lot of > seats). > > > > What makes a good wi-fi cafe? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > NYCwireless - http://www.nycwireless.net/ > > Un/Subscribe: > http://lists.nycwireless.net/mailman/listinfo/nycwireless/ > > Archives: http://lists.nycwireless.net/pipermail/nycwireless/ > > > > > Some people are born mediocre, some people achieve mediocrity, and > some > people have mediocrity thrust upon them. > -- Joseph Heller, "Catch-22" > > > > Robin-David Hammond KB3IEN > www.aresnyc.org. > -- NYCwireless - http://www.nycwireless.net/ Un/Subscribe: http://lists.nycwireless.net/mailman/listinfo/nycwireless/ Archives: http://lists.nycwireless.net/pipermail/nycwireless/
