Panera Kills Wi-Fi

January 11, 2006

Okay, so maybe "kills" is a bit of an exaggeration, but according to Gahtan's Technology and Internet Law Blog, some Panera Bread locations are now switching their free Wi-Fi off from 12-2pm to avoid congestion during the lunch rush.

On a purely selfish level, this is bad news for me: I'm a big fan of Panera as a place to multitask, working and eating at the same time, and that daily wireless downtime will make the place a lot less attractive for me. I'm apparently not alone in feeling this way.

But what does this change say about the free hotspot model in general?

It seems that cafes are starting to see free Wi-Fi specifically as a way to attract more customers during downtimes — with the caveat that it can actually become an annoyance when the place is busy, with laptop users occupying tables that could otherwise be used by paying customers.

In the long run, I'm afraid, the result may be the end of the free hotspot. You can only get something for nothing for so long.


This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 11th, 2006 at 11:10 am and is filed under Wi-Fi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Panera Kills Wi-Fi”

  1. Alan said:

    Jun 27, 09 at 4:38 pm

    It is a shame to see the reduced hours for wi-fi. Often the reason I eat at Panera is to demo Vonei Meeting (http://www.vonei.com) to clients. The service works well there – when the wi-fi is on of course! Rather than turning it off at lunch they should find a way to keep those customers will still having room for non-laptop users. If business is that good shouldn’t they add seats, even if outside?

  2. Alan said:

    Jun 27, 09 at 4:39 pm

    It is a shame to see the reduced hours for wi-fi. Often the reason I eat at Panera is to demo Vonei Meeting (http://www.vonei.com ) to clients. The service works well there – when the wi-fi is on of course! Rather than turning it off at lunch they should find a way to keep those customers will still having room for non-laptop users. If business is that good shouldn’t they add seats, even if outside?

  3. Jennifer said:

    Jun 13, 10 at 9:45 am

    The most recent news at my local Panera is that wifi is limited to 30 minutes during the noon-2 lunch rush. That seems to be a better compromise.

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