posted by Josephine Posti at 9:04 PM /
We had friends over last weekend for dinner and of the five adults, three of us work out of our MTL homes. I own a business and Ken and Martin both work remotely for companies not located in Pittsburgh. Since most of my clients are not in Pittsburgh, I have no need for office space. I work with a designer and web developer who live in New York and Boston, thus creating a ripple effect in the SoHo pool (Small Office / Home Office).
As the three of us commiserated over our lonely work lives and compared notes on Mt. Lebanon's coffee shops, Ken wondered aloud why one of them doesn't offer free wireless access to customers, rather than offering service that customers pay to tap into via a service provider. We all agreed that we'd be spending a lot more time at and a lot less time in our houses if someone offered such a service.
Ken may be onto something. Mt. Lebanon has a relatively high number of workers who work from their homes. According to the 2000 US Census, we have 4.6% of our workforce working in their bathrobes, compared to Pittsburgh's 2.4%. We even beat out tech hotspots like Cupertino (4.1%) and Austin (3.4%), leaving Boston (2.4%) and Miami (2.1%) in the dust. Boulder (6.5%) beats us, as do other cities, I'm sure. But when Mt. Lebanon has the same percentage of SoHo's as Seattle, I think we're onto something here.
While wireless access is a tool that many of us use with regularity, what other community ammenities would be helpful? Come on SoHo's...we know you're out there.
As the three of us commiserated over our lonely work lives and compared notes on Mt. Lebanon's coffee shops, Ken wondered aloud why one of them doesn't offer free wireless access to customers, rather than offering service that customers pay to tap into via a service provider. We all agreed that we'd be spending a lot more time at
Ken may be onto something. Mt. Lebanon has a relatively high number of workers who work from their homes. According to the 2000 US Census, we have 4.6% of our workforce working in their bathrobes, compared to Pittsburgh's 2.4%. We even beat out tech hotspots like Cupertino (4.1%) and Austin (3.4%), leaving Boston (2.4%) and Miami (2.1%) in the dust. Boulder (6.5%) beats us, as do other cities, I'm sure. But when Mt. Lebanon has the same percentage of SoHo's as Seattle, I think we're onto something here.
While wireless access is a tool that many of us use with regularity, what other community ammenities would be helpful? Come on SoHo's...we know you're out there.
8 Comments:
I've been unemployed most of this year, so I've been working on a novel from home.
I actually DON'T want to go to the coffeeshop to write - I DON'T WANT ANY DISTRACTIONS! But, maybe once a week or twice a month, it would be fun to get together with other writers/artists/Web developers - other people doing work from home in Mount Lebanon.
The other day, I was running an errand over on Bevery Rd., I saw a sign for something like "Small Paper Press" on the same side as Bado's Pizza, near Coffee Tree Roasters. It seems like it might be a small press for local writers. I'm clearly not remembering the name correctly because I can't find it in Google, and a URL was definitely attached. Is anyone out there familiar with it?
Laurie Mann
Novel Experiemtn
http://www.novelexperiment.com
Laurie,
That's Paper Street Press. The link to their site is on the Blog-Lebo homepage.
Steve
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The reason that these coffee shops don't offer free wireless Internet access is because a lot of people that come in and use the access will stay there all day and only purchase one drink (if anything!).
I've heard this from people that have worked at coffee shops with free wi-fi. In the end, it doesn't make sense for the shop owner to pay for something without anything in return!
I applaud the fact that people have to pay for the service. If you want to use the web, then pay for it. Otherwise, go to the library!
What if they charge 1 latte per hour? :) With a sufficiently motivated / caffeinated (hint, hint) nerd on hand, I'm sure an option could be found. Truly free wireless would most likely be exploited anyway - not only by loitering patrons but nearby stores and residents. Covet not thy neighbor's Wi-Fi? (ugh. did I just go there?)
My proposal would be something like a lease voucher, obtainable at the counter (with purchase). The lease would either expire after a set time, or the bandwidth alloted could slowly be throttled down to a trickle. Watching the overly-juiced wait for an agonizingly slow download ought to be worth a chuckle.
I'm a SOHO dope on Wash Rd in Lebo and always looking for free Wi-Fi. I travel to NYC a bit and free wi-fi is everywhere. I've heard it compared to water in a restuarant yes you must buy something but the wi-fi says you're welcome to hang.
BTW does the Lebo libray have wi-fi yet?
I'm a big fan of wi-fi and working from Wherever. I mean, we have the technology, lets use it.
There's a lot of cases where being in an office everyday is not really necessary.
So, I'd really be for better Wi-Fi in public places. I know Borders has wi-fi, and I think some Starbucks near the universities as well.
You'd think, Aldo, BlueHorse, CoffeeDen, or Mojo's could benefit from some sort of buy-a-drink-and- get-wireless plan.
I'd go.
Interesting discussion on free wireless and one that has received significant press lately, especially from the Pacific Northwest.
A number of leading coffeehouses up there are returning to paid wireless models (or disconnecting entirely) because it's become too burdensome to police - lots of people thinking it's an entitlement, and some of the rationalizations are bizarre ("Hey, there was no sign saying the free wireless was for customers!").
Other reasons for these coffeehouses switching to paid or turning it off, have to do with the change in the cafe's environment - cafe owners complaining that their shops had become a series of workstations. Single people taking up entire fourtops with work spread out so other customers had no seating. And conversation essentially stopped - there was no longer any "community".
These are obviously serious concerns for us. We recognize that some local coffeeshops, notably the Beehive, have had success with the free model and seem to be doing OK with it, so we are looking at similar models. Still, the issue of tech support is key for us.
Also, to date, nobody has designed a cost-effective system for monitoring individual wireless usage that alerts people that they haven't bought anything lately. This means that the honor system has to be in play. Wish we were convinced that would work favorably, but we're not, based on experiences coffeehouses have had elsewhere in the country.
Our initial rationale for using Telerama was quite simple: Support. We're a coffeehouse, not a network provider. We could buy a box and offer free wireless, but then we assume the security and all performance issues. If the access speeds are below what people feel is optimal, that rubs off on our customer service, regardless of whether we're superior in all foodservice aspects. Not a smart thing to do from a business standpoint.
That said, once our Telerama contract has run its term, we will be revisiting this decision. It really depends on whether the demand is there and whether we believe the offering would not be abused.
We could continue to use Telerama and go to a free model, which is expensive, but would offer customers consistent bandwidth and tech support. We'd probably have to ask for some sort of voluntary contributions in addition to requesting hourly purchases. On the plus side, it would be less than the current $4.95/day that Telerama charges.
Would appreciate everyone's thoughts on this, and if you'd like to have a meeting about it to discuss, let us know. If we make a change, it'll be towards end of this year.
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