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06:01 pm June 21st, 2005

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			Mark Atwood

fallenpegasus


	I'm here at the Vivace café, to meet someone. There is a newly printed sign on the counter, stating that the wlan will be turned off from 8am-6pm on weekends. Feh. It's their store, it's their business, it's their wlan (AP 00:90:4B:24:CF:25). It's their decision. However, it's my money and my patronage, and they are about to get a lot less of either. The Vivace has never been one of those "random social interaction" cafes that the the places that are shutting off their wlan are trying to get back to, even before the spread of wlan. The only groupings who come here are those who come here as groups. Most of the people sitting at the tables are students, hunched over textbooks and doing homework.

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	Comments

	From: tugrik	Date: June 22nd, 2005 01:35 am (UTC)		(Link)

This is becoming a trend, even down here in the 'more wifi than thou' pretentious parts of the silicon valley. What amuses me the most is the primary reason for killing wifi at a lot of these places is the coffee-shop version of keeping up with the Joneses: it's trendy to get news about how they're killing access to try to 'bring back a community feel'.

On the other hand, more random businesses are putting up nodes than coffeeshops are taking them down. Heck, three stores in the dang food court at the mall near my house have wifi for free.

Query for my own curiosity: does the Vivace you're sitting in have a problem with filling up (and staying filled) with wifi-campers, or is there always a place for the random customer who shows up?

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	From: fallenpegasus	Date: June 22nd, 2005 08:12 am (UTC)		(Link)

The tables tend to fill up, so it's hard to for groups of more than two people to find a place right away, but there is nearly always a place for one or two people to sit.

Plus, the people who are camping appear (at least to me), to be buying another drink every hour or so.

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	From: pheonix_jade	Date: June 22nd, 2005 04:10 am (UTC)		(Link)

What is their wlan a pay to play? Does it cost them more to keep it on during the day? Insane I say. Insane!

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	From: fallenpegasus	Date: June 22nd, 2005 08:10 am (UTC)		(Link)

Their wlan is free. The only public for-pay wlan commonly encountered in Seattle is the Verizon one that's in every Starbucks, or the one at SeaTac airport.

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	From: intrepid_reason	Date: June 22nd, 2005 03:19 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Are they nuts!

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