Comments on: Restaurants Need WiFi and Power

By: Ed Kohler

Ed Kohler — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 03:44:10 +0000

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.

By: TBOU

TBOU — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 01:44:21 +0000

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.

By: Scott Beveridge

Scott Beveridge — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 02:09:36 +0000

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……….

By: Ed Kohler

Ed Kohler — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 19:13:04 +0000

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.

By: Milkcookies

Milkcookies — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 07:17:49 +0000

Did anyone say anything ???

By: Jared

Jared — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 00:12:16 +0000

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.

By: Justine

Justine — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:02:38 +0000

Oh my gosh.. This is so funny!!! hahaha

By: Erica M

Erica M — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:46:56 +0000

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.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 02:17:36 +0000

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!

By: Brad V.

Brad V. — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 23:11:53 +0000

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!