

New law requires all restaurants in Malaysian city to provide Wi-Fi - tilt
http://thenextweb.com/asia/2012/01/02/new-law-requires-all-restaurants-in-malaysian-city-to-provide-wi-fi/

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adamjernst
_As someone who works on their computer all the time, I find it remarkable
that so many coffee shops in NYC still don’t provide free Wi-Fi._

Probably because they don't _want_ you there using your laptop! I avoid coffee
shops that are overcrowded with laptop users because I can't find a place to
sit and drink my coffee.

Starbucks has taken a different approach in NYC: keep the Wi-Fi, rip out the
power outlets. This lets you use your laptop but effectively imposes a time
limit.

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electromagnetic
I noticed this in Starbucks in Toronto in the past week. I haven't been there
in years and wondered how they rid themselves of the laptop wielders, and
noticed that there's no power outlets left. The couple that are, are the
floor-mounted key-locked like those in big shopping malls for the maintenance
and when they set up kiosks at christmas time.

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swlevy
I think this is generally a good idea, but in the iPad/Kindle era, not sure
how much of a problem battery life is going to be.

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hack_edu
Its a lot less common to see someone set up shop for a full-blown workstation
with their iPad. Sure, you can sit down and work for hours on an iPad
(especially if you bring a separate keyboard) but I doubt many people would do
this without some other circumstance that prevents them from bringing a
laptop. I doubt that's going to change for a while.

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protomyth
So a group of people who are devoted to food service now have to become
experts at wi-fi deployment or hire someone who is. Sounds like a really
crappy tax and a distraction.

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r00fus
Several things: from a 10k foot view, this sounds like a great intention
(mass-wifi-coverage) with an onerous requirement (only for ~1200sqft
establishments though) to mandate installation and maintenance of wifi.

On the other hand, it creates a government required cottage industry of
setting up wifi (insurance, smog checks, etc).

On the gripping hand, those wifi-fearing freaks will definitely need to stay
away from Malaysia.

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badclient
Big Nick's Pizza in NYC has a sign that says something like "NO LAPTOPS. THIS
IS NOT A LIBRARY." To be clear, they can pull off such a sign with their
persona.

Always cracks me up.

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tnuc
And soon the internet companies will be charging "business" rates to supply
restaurants with internet.

Another law that will have unintended consequences.

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sp332
I'm worried about the level of interference this will cause in the already-
crappy 2.4 GHz band. I'm sure most restaurants will just plug in a wifi
gateway and leave it with default settings, probably with the broadcast power
all the way up and set to channel 1 or 6.

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denzil_correa
A more elegant solution is using the vending machines as in Japan :
[http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/28/japanese-vending-
machine-...](http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/28/japanese-vending-machine-
doubles-as-wifi-hotspot-no-purchase/)

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swah
Sounds like a good idea; actually makes things harder for little bussinesses.

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bluekeybox
It probably even hurts existing restaurant owners, since, if providing free
WiFi was good business to them, they would be doing it already, without
waiting for some law to be mandated.

EDIT: since you changed wording in your comment from "startups" to businesses,
I guess my reply to you here is now redundant.

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FaceKicker
Are you implying that all restaurant owners seize every possible good business
opportunity?

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adamjernst
The idea is that ones who seize good opportunities will stay in business, and
those that don't (offer Wi-Fi in this example) will eventually go out of
business without the need for laws.

