# has anybody ever seen a $0.10 per hour internet cafe?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-seen-a-0-10-per-hour-internet-cafe/578409>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 14, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-seen-a-0-10-per-hour-internet-cafe/578409 "2011-04-14T20:48:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-seen-a-0-10-per-hour-internet-cafe/578409/21 "2011-04-16T04:35:16Z")

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In Tacoma, the city I live in, I don’t know of any internet cafes still around. But in Seattle there is still a number of cafes still open. Plus there are a number of coffee houses that although offering free Wi-fi still have a few PCs available.

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**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-seen-a-0-10-per-hour-internet-cafe/578409/22 "2011-04-16T04:48:56Z")

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These ultra-cheap cyber cafes were not slick enterprises. I think mostly they were ancient cast-off machines scrounged from friends and family stuck in the back room of someone’s flat. Some money is better than no money.

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**Author:** ![smellsofgummybears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@smellsofgummybears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smellsofgummybears)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-seen-a-0-10-per-hour-internet-cafe/578409/23 "2011-04-16T11:18:35Z")

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In this country they are notorious for being used for money laundering (much like, ooh, I dunno, hand car washes) anyway, so I don’t think making a profit is always a serious goal.

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**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-seen-a-0-10-per-hour-internet-cafe/578409/24 "2011-04-16T11:49:39Z")

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Also very useful for tourists and people without printers or scanners. I don’t take my laptop on every trip (on hardly any, in fact) and on occasion I’ve needed to print documents or emails. Those are the only times I’ve had to hunt down internet cafes.

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**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-seen-a-0-10-per-hour-internet-cafe/578409/25 "2011-04-16T12:58:30Z")

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Been a while since I’ve been in one, but in Taiwan the Internet cafes seem to be frequented by teenagers and college-age kids who regard the venue as a place to hang out with friends, play online multiplayer games and watcj streaming movies. The computers thus tend to be higher end as far as I can see and they run between 2-5 dollars per hour. You usually get a complementary drink as well.

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