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Restaurants Need WiFi and Power
I planned a meeting at a restaurant in Minneapolis called Buster's on 28th the other day based on the fact that they have WiFi. However, I forgot to take power into consideration.
After scoping the place out, I couldn't find an outlet in any of the booths, tables, or at the bar. Luckily, one of the waiters pointed out this outlet above the back corner booth near a TV:
I almost killed myself while plugging in, but once that was done, I was in business.
I'd love to see restaurants get to the point where there is an outlet within reach from every booth. That would be ideal for my eating and computing lifestyle. Of course, I wouldn't expect every restaurant to honor such a request. But, for places interested in serving the geek crowd, WiFi without power comes up a bit short.
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2. Posted by: Jeff on September 14, 2007 6:17 PM:
Too true. I suppose they figure everyone has nuclear-powered laptops or something. Maybe after the no-smoking ban in October they can move on to power supply legislation!
3. Posted by: Erica M on September 17, 2007 9:46 AM:
Seems like restaurants offer free wifi because it's cheap and easy and the thing to do. But getting your customers to hang around and eat and drink more while they surf the web (or bring their clients, etc. for business lunches) is not going to work if your laptop runs out of juice.
Most coffee shops get this, but not all.
4. Posted by: Justine on September 18, 2007 12:02 PM:
Oh my gosh.. This is so funny!!! hahaha
5. Posted by: Jared on September 19, 2007 4:12 PM:
I was thinking the same thing while at a Caribou the other day. You always see these places trumping their free wi-fi, but they almost never have convenient power outlets.
6. Posted by: Milkcookies on September 19, 2007 11:17 PM:
Did anyone say anything ???
7. Posted by: Ed Kohler on September 20, 2007 11:13 AM:
Milkcookies, the outlet was pointed out to me by a server after he couldn't find one anywhere else in the dining area. I was standing in the booth before he had time to consider whether I'd actually use it.
8. Posted by: Scott Beveridge on September 21, 2007 6:09 PM:
In April, I found myself sitting on the floor beside a bank of dinosaur telephone booths to find a plug at Pittsburgh International Airport. Maybe we need to give this up..........
9. Posted by: TBOU on September 25, 2007 5:44 PM:
Maybe you should take into consideration that providing free wifi is easy and relatively cheap from a logistics point of view. To make a restaurant that well equipped with outlets, you need to install the extra outlets, which means that you probably need to hire a contractor (since most people can't do that themselves), probably rewire the circuit breaker box to support all that additional load so the power won't go out when a bunch of people plug in laptops and then pay for a county inspector to make sure it's done all right!! All of this takes a lot more money than most places want to spend, since they doubt that you’ll spend that much more money to make it worth their while.
10. Posted by: Ed Kohler on September 25, 2007 7:44 PM:
Good point, TBOU. However, you can't expect me to choose to have a meeting at a restaurant without available power when there are dozens of other options nearby with outlets.
Restaurants that provide power, whether by luck or proactive provisioning of outlets or powerstrips, will win my business.
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1. Posted by: Brad V. on September 14, 2007 3:11 PM:
Lol! That picture is pretty funny. But you're right, Wi-Fi without power is kinda like eating a sandwich without bread. What's the point???
That's one of my big pet peeves when I go to a coffee shop or anywhere with Wi-FI, I always end up having to hunt around for a power outlet. Maybe these establishments just like to see us suffer!