Wouldn't it be nice...

...if we could say that the announcement in this morning's Kansas City Star that Starbucks is bailing out of its Westport location-where it went head-to-head against a local cafe right next door and not only lost, but saw its competitor open a second location a block away!-was the result of free trouncing fee? Perhaps, but I can't conclude for certain that was the case. I sort of "war-walked" both the "David" locations this afternoon, starting with the one adjacent to the vanquished Goliath. While I did see several laptop users there, what I didn't see at either site were any open access points, so if either or both locations are unwired, they're either play-for-pay or otherwise restricted-and thus beyond the scope of this blog.

However, the Westport Coffee House a couple of blocks away isn't-or at least wasn't when I reviewed it a year and a half ago. Neither were TeaDrops around the corner nor Panera Bread down the street the last time I was there. So it's not like Starbucks and T-Mobile didn't have to compete against the free world for supremacy in Westport.

By Jove, I think they GET it!

JP Wine Bar Coffee House
1526 Walnut, Kansas City

802.11g
SSID: jpwine

From the shaded windows to the convenient power outlets installed along the front of the bar (there are others serving the seats along the north wall), it's apparent this is a place set up by 21st century thinkers for like-minded customers. The only quibble I have is with signal strength; my AirPort is only showing three bars, and iStumbler, my new toy, is showing the percentage varying between 30 and 50, but it's not having any noticeable effect on connectivity or speed.

Now that I think about it though, it may be due to interference more than anything else. There are perhaps five other laptoppers here at the moment. After all, when you're doing something right, word gets around.

Bank-Fi?

No, more like "Gee, this access point is open so I guess it's okay to use...right?"

Sorry, folks, but that's not how it works. And you'd think anyone submitting locations to JiWire and WiFiFreeSpot to add to their listings would know better, but it appears one local contributor doesn't-and it also looks as if neither site bothered with verifying the submission before posting it, which is simply frightening.

Anyway, here's the straight dope with regard to the Northland bank branch currently listed on both sites. According to a staff member I spoke with there, they DO NOT offer wireless Internet access. Therefore, any open networks you may see while on those premises are owned by someone else, and if you connect to them you will be using them without authorization unless you took the time to obtain permission beforehand.

Besides, why would a bank offer Wi-Fi anyway? It's not really a place customers are inclined to hang around, is it?

In case you've ever wondered...

...what we think of the belief in some circles that Wi-Fi may affect people's health, here's someone who agrees with us.

Anyone else remember the good old days when adding fluoride to drinking water was the only thing that stirred those types up?

You're a mean one, Mrs. Grinch...

Just noticed that Ma Bell apparently isn't repeating last year's free-with-a-coupon Wi-Fi offer for the holidays. Wonder why?

Wonder what took them so long?

Late flash from the Denver Post, tipped to us by Glenn Fleishman over at Wi-Fi Networking News: Denver International Airport has liberated its Wi-Fi. Too bad they hadn't done it six months ago, when I passed through a couple of times.

I mention this here not only because, as you recall, I made note of DIA being play-for-pay back then, but it seems some details in the story back up my assertion that large-scale installations like this are really untenable these days unless they're free. Consider: DIA claimed that as many as 20,000 users per month were willing to pony up $8 to use the network. All right then, let's do the math. That comes out to just under $2 million in annual revenue. Plainly and simply, unwiring the airport and maintaining the network couldn't possibly cost anywhere near that much-meaning that someone in Denver has either been hitting the Christmas spirit(s) a little too hard, or isn't being exactly truthful about how popular the service actually was. There's no way a cash cow that productive would have been sent to slaughter.

Of course, all I know is what I read in the papers-except for not having seen anyone actually using the network back in May during either of my two stops. I'd think I would have if they were really selling 600 connections per day, don't you?

In the beginning...

...God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without wireless Internet access, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.

And God said, "Let there be the 802.11 standard, and let it be implemented..."

Or something like that. Anyway, sorry we're late in commemorating the second anniversary of this blog. Here's hoping our efforts in the year to come make up for it.