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Permalink Reply by Jason Dominy on June 12, 2008 at 12:20pm

I like Wandering Wi-fi. They also service Caribou.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Spence on June 16, 2008 at 8:22am

Check out Webbeams - They are members here and attend all the trade shows. They have a great product for wifi.

For more information about WEBbeams, contact us by phone at 1.888.WEBbeams or by e-mail at sales@webbeams.com.

Brian Van Lieshout, Sales
Milwaukee Office
320 E. Buffalo Street
Suite #605
Milwaukee, WI 53202
phone: 1.888.WEBbeams ext. 1000
fax: 877.546.0420
brianvanlieshout@webbeams.com

Hope this helps!
Mike @ SelbySoft.

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Permalink Reply by Matt Milletto on June 16, 2008 at 8:49am

I second the WebBeams recommendation. John, they are the wi-fi providers at the American Barista & Coffee School as well. They can integrate the wi-fi into your POS as well.

- Matt

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Permalink Reply by Mary on June 22, 2008 at 2:41pm

Wow. People still charge for wi-fi? We have one computer available for customer use and free wi-fi for all. One cable broadband modem, one wireless router, and you're good to go. We leave it on 24/7 and I'll often see folks sitting outside the cafe or in their cars checking their email, etc. after we've closed. As someone who has to travel for work occasionally, I'm always looking for a (free) wi-fi spot and a great cup of coffee.

It costs me approx $50/month - customer goodwill, priceless.

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Permalink Reply by Christophor Rodriquez on June 30, 2008 at 10:10am

Hi John,

My name is Chris Rodriquez and I Work for WEBbeams. I wanted to take a couple minutes to help you avoid making a hasty decision. I don't want this to come across as a pitch so I'll keep this more information based but you should know that I am speaking on behalf of the many cafe owners that we have worked with over the last seven years or so.

As you know there are multiple solutions for the independent cafe owner, but you really want to be careful of what you buy into. Doing it your self is one of those options but with that may come a host of other issues to consider. Things you should be aware of will fall into three main categories. They are security, reliability, and profitability.

Security is directed toward making sure that not only your private network is secure but that your customers are secure from each other as well. A lot of cafe owners are not aware of some of the laws that they need to be compliant with. Two of the top ones are PCI and CALEA.

Reliability is a bit more directed to the marketability of your cafe. This has to do with your Wi-Fi always being there when your customers come to use it, being easy to use, not forcing customers to pay for it, and giving everyone shared access. The equipment you decide to use as the back bone for your network should be well thought out. Word of mouth is a powerful thing and you don't want people saying bad thing about your Wi-Fi. After all, Dell's yearly laptop sales have already surpassed desktop sales and cafes are the are the top rated locations to connect aside from home.

Profitability has to do with your ability to maintain the profit that you are making and possibility use your Wi-Fi to generate more. Yes you are able to do this by giving away FREE Wi-Fi. So much focus is put on having to offer "FREE Wi-Fi." that owners start sacrificing their time, money and resources just trying to keep their system up and running. Just because you are forced to give it away dosn't mean that you should not benefit from it.

I hope that have at least got you thinking about how Wi-Fi in today's cafe really needs to be viewed as every other high quality product you offer in your cafe. Some providers out there don't really know about the Independent cafe needs If you have any further questions I would be happy to answer them. I can share more info to help you with any decision you make. Feel free to send me a friends request and we can exchange contact info.

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