Starting July 1, Starbucks will offer no-strings free Wi-Fi in all of its locations, some 6700 company-owned stores. The chain has been moving toward free wireless for some time; today all you need to do to get free Wi-Fi alongside your venti coffee is to purchase a stored value card. (In addition, many customers of AT&T, which delivers the Wi-Fi service, also get free access as part of many bundled service plans).
Wi-Fi Net News has some interesting details worth noting:
With Starbucks switching to free, roughly 20,000 of AT&T’s 21,000-plus hotspot locations in the United States are now fee-free. AT&T also runs free Barnes & Noble’s network, as well as operating the for-fee service in a few airports, and a number of hotel properties.
Along with free Wi-Fi, Starbucks will also launch free content this fall from partners in a Starbucks Digital Network. Yahoo will have some privileged position in this network. The initial launch includes free access to the Wall Street Journal, and “uniquely valuable customer experience” (err…they’re marketing to us?) from Apple’s iTunes, The New York Times, Zagat, USA Today, and Patch.
Connected Planet’s take,
Kevin Fitchard:
As the Colbert Report joked last night, people obviously can’t afford to pay for the Wi-Fi if they’re spending $6 for a cup of coffee.
It may be free for customers, but I doubt AT&T is offering to manage the service for Starbucks for free. What seems to be emerging is a kind of symbiosis between the service sector and telecom service operators. They want to lure customers to their comfy sofas and tables, while operators are probably relishing the idea of a sizable amount of data traffic off of their WANs. Meanwhile, Starbucks’ launch window will push all kinds of preferred content to its patrons. I imagine there’s some kind of business arrangement between the content providers and coffee giant, as well.
Starbucks certainly isn’t the first to offer free Wi-Fi, but it’s sheer size and familiarity — how often have you heard “I’ll just find a Starbucks and get some work done” — could have a huge impact on the balance of mobile data traffic traversing the local area vs. the 3G network. AT&T long ago made surfing on Starbucks hotspots free for iPhone and other 3G device customers, but there’s been a huge surge in other smartphones from operators that don’t happen to have nationwide hotspot networks to lean on. Wi-Fi crowd-sourcing firm WeFi recently reported that 40% of Android handsets using its software are consuming more than 100 MB of Wi-Fi data per month. When 6700 hotspots in some of the most trafficked locations in the world suddenly become free to access, those numbers will likely climb.
That’s our take on this. Let us know what you think in the comments section below:
Thanks Kevin, very insightful.
But from your title, I was expecting a comment about 4G? Such as that the demand for 4G might be delayed by the presence of ubiquitous free WiFi?
I have offered free WiFi to customers in my laundromat since 2005. I do this because my two closest competitors do not, and I like to differentiate my business in any way I can.
I always travel with a lap-top and a smartphone, and have long preferred to stop at Pannera rather than Starbucks, precisely to avail myself of their free WiFi. Perhaps Starbucks expects to increase its market share by “catching up” with the competition?
All I can say is finally! What to you so long Starbucks?
To Dave Levenson:
You are doing the right thing and your customers are probably happier for that.
You can have your Wi-Fi network published on the Wi-Fi Maps and listings on http://wefi.com for free – just download the software from WeFi.com to your laptop, use it to connect to your Wi-Fi network, and add your business details directly through the software.