# Dear indie coffee shops: please fix your wifi. Thanks. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 28, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-indie-coffee-shops-please-fix-your-wifi-thanks/562123 "2010-11-28T01:03:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-indie-coffee-shops-please-fix-your-wifi-thanks/562123/21 "2010-12-06T10:41:12Z")
> [@Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](#): > > Starbucks internet works fine. I am using it right now. A nice, easy-to-use sign-on designed by AT&T. > > Indies sucks. Go corporate. But then you have to endure overpriced mediocre coffee, and dreary surroundings. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-indie-coffee-shops-please-fix-your-wifi-thanks/562123/22 "2010-12-06T12:34:55Z")
The local indie cafe’ here gets great wifi, I know because the two house mgrs spend a bulk of their day on the internets - updating and checking the cafe’s FB page, shopping and browsing. We could use a little more indie vibe to counter the bible study groupies, Saturdays we host an iimpromptu practice/jam session and the musicians are really really good. The other day they had some middleaged mama belting out Van Morrison - 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-indie-coffee-shops-please-fix-your-wifi-thanks/562123/23 "2010-12-06T18:22:11Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > I’ve not had this problem in indie coffee shops. The worst offenders by far are hotels, indie more than chain (though I’ve had trouble with both). It seems like hotel wi-fi is about as likely to work as not, and when it does the coverage is such that you have to be perched on the sink in the bathroom to use it, if it’s strong enough to reach the room at all. They don’t respond to internet problems with a tenth of the urgency they would if, say, the cable went out. If it goes out anytime after noon on Friday, you’re out of luck for the weekend. I have heard that this is deliberate by hotels to an extent. Absolutely no cite for this, but my personal experience backs it up, is that at night the wireless service gets MUCH worse. And I was told this was because with wireless working well, no one will pay for the adult movies on the hotel video on demand system. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-indie-coffee-shops-please-fix-your-wifi-thanks/562123/24 "2010-12-06T22:40:38Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > [Mod hat on] > **GuanoLad** , you _know_ this thread isn’t a debate about of what Americans might consider a necessity versus what a farmer in Darfur might consider a luxury. Talk about that in another thread if you want; don’t do it here. > > ETA: No note or warning intended. You do realize that this thread is in the BBQ Pit, right? Christ on a mother-fucking cracker! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-indie-coffee-shops-please-fix-your-wifi-thanks/562123/25 "2010-12-06T23:13:02Z")
> [@jamie6](#): > > Emphasis added by me. “Unlimited” usually means 5 gbs before they cut you off or severely throttle you. A good point one should look into before purchase. However I have a virgin mobile wireless card that took in at least 25 GB last month. If it’s limited they’re not enforcing it. So I know there’s at least one true unlimited plan out there. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-indie-coffee-shops-please-fix-your-wifi-thanks/562123/26 "2010-12-07T02:07:20Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > You do realize that this thread is in the BBQ Pit, right? > > Christ on a mother-fucking cracker! I don’t think it quite rises to the Christ-on-a-cracker level, but I do apologize, because for some reason I did think I was MPSIMS. Probably this was because the OP’s language and tone would have been OK for the MPSIMS, pretty much. Still that’s no excuse for me. Even so **GuanoLad** ’s post was a bit of a non-sequitur. FTR I reported my own post to the Pit mods. I don’t normally moderate outside my assigned forums, especially for something this minor, but strictly speaking we do have some leeway there. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-indie-coffee-shops-please-fix-your-wifi-thanks/562123/27 "2010-12-07T03:17:02Z")
> [@Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](#): > > Starbucks internet works fine. I am using it right now. A nice, easy-to-use sign-on designed by AT&T. > > Indies sucks. Go corporate. In my part of the country Starbucks does not have free WiFi. You must have a T- mobile account. Of course, we don’t have hippster coffee shops to compete with then either. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-indie-coffee-shops-please-fix-your-wifi-thanks/562123/28 "2010-12-07T03:25:21Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > I don’t think it quite rises to the Christ-on-a-cracker level, but I do apologize, because for some reason I did think I was MPSIMS. Fair enough. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-indie-coffee-shops-please-fix-your-wifi-thanks/562123/29 "2010-12-08T00:59:12Z")
Yeah, Starbucks is free as long as you have a Starbucks gift card with credit still on it. And the one time I did use it, getting registered and logged in with AT&T was a pain in the ass taking at least 15 minutes to work through. ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-indie-coffee-shops-please-fix-your-wifi-thanks/562123/30 "2010-12-08T03:28:12Z")
> [@Purd\_Werfect](#): > > Yeah, Starbucks is free as long as you have a Starbucks gift card with credit still on it. And the one time I did use it, getting registered and logged in with AT&T was a pain in the ass taking at least 15 minutes to work through. This is no longer true. You hit a check box and you’re on with no daily limits. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-indie-coffee-shops-please-fix-your-wifi-thanks/562123/31 "2010-12-08T03:37:52Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Fair enough. Thanks. You really could have gone for the throat there…longtime poster, wronged incorrectly, ATMB, all that jazz… I’m _supremely_ disappointed in you. You could have made mod. MOD, you fool! 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-indie-coffee-shops-please-fix-your-wifi-thanks/562123.md?page=1)