For a long time, I avoided Starbucks because they charged for wifi, but this year with their card, I can get free wifi and free refills.
I actually end up patronizing Starbucks more because, unlike the local places, I can be a horrible customer and only buy one $1.50 brewed coffee and stay a long time. When I go to a decent local cafe, I end up buying a lot more because I want them to stay in business (or because they're snooty and insist on it), but if Starbucks goes out of business, I don't care. Kind of weird how that works.
This is something that surprised me when I went to Spain and ate almost every meal in tiny family-owned restaurants. Rather than appreciate the closeness between owner and customer, I ended up just feeling awkward a lot (the owner/host would sometimes scold me for not ordering enough food) and I missed my old faceless American conglomerates, with their multiple layers of indirection between the shareholders and me.
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http://www.breakthepaywall.com
The wireless was/is free as long as you spend at least $5 per month. All you need is $5 on a gift card to enable the wireless for the month. So buy a $5 gift card and at the end of the month, spend that $5 and put $5 more on the card. Silly game and not so prominently advertised, but it works (as of a few month ago when I was last in the US).
Actually, it's even easier than that. They don't even check that you use the card. I bought a $5 Starbucks card at least 18 months ago, and have used it since for free wi-fi at Starbucks despite having never used or refilled it since.
Yeah, seriously, the WiFi has always been free for actual customers. The only thing that's different is that now it's free for homeless people too. I'm not really sure how this is an improvement.
I'm posting this from a Stabucks in Buenos AIres where Wi-Fi is free and unlimited, as it is on 99% of other bars
and restaurants here.
Last time I was in NY, I had a hard time finding places
with free Wi-Fi.
I'll be there again in October, do you people have any
recommendations of good bars/coffee houses with free WiFi?
NYC is a pretty big place. Probably not much help to know of a joint in the Bronx or Staten Island if you're spending your time in Brooklyn or lower Manhattan.
Might be better to ask about free wifi in whatever area of the city you tend to visit.
But there are a ton of them around I don't know by name. Usually smaller places frown on non-customers using it, or using it on busy nights (Friday/Saturday after 9pm or so), but I haven't had an issue readily finding wifi to work during the day.
The best coffee in NYC is at Roasting Plant in the West Village. They also have free WiFi and don't care how long you stay. Also, each seat/table has its own dedicated power outlet.
They used to be 24 hours too...I'm so sad they aren't anymore. Though I understand why..a lot of times after 1 or 2 AM it would just be me and one other dude sitting around through the night until business picked up in the early morning again.
Finally. It's about time Starbucks joined the rest of the world in this. I'd like to see this happen in a couple major airports I have to deal with also (Dulles coughcough). It's not like it really costs all that much, and I personally would be far more likely to frequent a Starbucks with free wi-fi.
I always avoided Starbucks due to the two hour limit. Not that I often exceed it, but just on principle. Also it was always a hassle to have to use a gift card to get the free access.
I'm curious--did you actually ever exceed it? What I mean is, I've never encountered a Starbucks that actually enforced the 2 hour limit. Sometimes I'm logged out, but I just log back in and everything works. In the beginning I just assumed this was a glitch when they were rolling out the service, but if it was, they never fixed it. (I go to lots of Starbucks, mostly in San Francisco, and some around California.)
As far as I can tell, the card only needs to be active when you register. My account continues to work long after the card has been inactive with a zero balance.
Creating an account is not all that bad. You only need to do it once and Mailinator email address are accepted :)
I actually end up patronizing Starbucks more because, unlike the local places, I can be a horrible customer and only buy one $1.50 brewed coffee and stay a long time. When I go to a decent local cafe, I end up buying a lot more because I want them to stay in business (or because they're snooty and insist on it), but if Starbucks goes out of business, I don't care. Kind of weird how that works.