dsi1 wrote:
>
> These days some places have to provide free WiFi to be competitive. I think that soon most businesses will be expected to provide this service for their customers.

I live in a tourist vacation town. Almost every business here has free
wifi.

On 2/26/2017 1:03 PM, Gary wrote:
> dsi1 wrote:
>>
>> These days some places have to provide free WiFi to be competitive. I think that soon most businesses will be expected to provide this service for their customers.
>
> I live in a tourist vacation town. Almost every business here has free
> wifi.
>
"Customers" being the operative word. You should not be able to just
plop yourself down in a restaurant, etc. with your wireless device and
not order anything.

Jill

jmcquown wrote:
>
> On 2/26/2017 1:03 PM, Gary wrote:
> > dsi1 wrote:
> >>
> >> These days some places have to provide free WiFi to be competitive. I think that soon most businesses will be expected to provide this service for their customers.
> >
> > I live in a tourist vacation town. Almost every business here has free
> > wifi.
> >
> "Customers" being the operative word. You should not be able to just
> plop yourself down in a restaurant, etc. with your wireless device and
> not order anything.
>
> Jill

Are you nuts? HAve no clue? The places don't all of the sudden turn on
wifi once you pay. It's there for every customer. Hello Jill... Just
pull into the parking lot and you've got wifi. It's no big deal to them.
They all provide it. The occasional freeloader doesn't bother them. I've
actually never abused this but I have gone to several places, bought
something, then used their wifi out in the parking lot - that wifi
connection has no idea if I was a paying customer or not.

On 2/26/2017 1:42 PM, Gary wrote:
> jmcquown wrote:
>>
>> On 2/26/2017 1:03 PM, Gary wrote:
>>> dsi1 wrote:
>>>>
>>>> These days some places have to provide free WiFi to be competitive. I think that soon most businesses will be expected to provide this service for their customers.
>>>
>>> I live in a tourist vacation town. Almost every business here has free
>>> wifi.
>>>
>> "Customers" being the operative word. You should not be able to just
>> plop yourself down in a restaurant, etc. with your wireless device and
>> not order anything.
>>
>> Jill
>
> Are you nuts? HAve no clue? The places don't all of the sudden turn on
> wifi once you pay. It's there for every customer. Hello Jill... Just
> pull into the parking lot and you've got wifi. It's no big deal to them.
> They all provide it. The occasional freeloader doesn't bother them. I've
> actually never abused this but I have gone to several places, bought
> something, then used their wifi out in the parking lot - that wifi
> connection has no idea if I was a paying customer or not.
>
My original observation McDonald's didn't have a thing to do with
wifi. It was about people who bought a cheap cup of coffee at McD's and
got free refills but they *brought their own food*. I saw them do this
several times and was surprised they weren't asked to leave since they
weren't really spending any money. What this has to do with free wifi
is a mystery only Google-boy (dsi1) can solve.

Jill

On 2017-02-27, jmcquown > wrote:

> On 2/26/2017 1:42 PM, Gary wrote:

>> Are you nuts? HAve no clue? The places don't all of the sudden turn on
>> wifi once you pay. It's there for every customer. Hello Jill... Just
>> pull into the parking lot and you've got wifi. It's no big deal to them.
>> They all provide it. The occasional freeloader doesn't bother
>> them.

That musta changed. I've read of several instances where
wifi-freeloaders have been arrested. This several yrs ago.


>It was about people who bought a cheap cup of coffee at McD's and
> got free refills but they *brought their own food*.

Hah! I thought you meant Starsucks. What do they consider a "cheap
cup of coffee". Do they sell such an animal?

BTW, if I owned a food establishment (I do not), I'd also kick out
anyone bringing outside food into my place.

nb

On 2/27/2017 10:00 AM, notbob wrote:
> On 2017-02-27, jmcquown > wrote:
>
>> On 2/26/2017 1:42 PM, Gary wrote:
>
>>> Are you nuts? HAve no clue? The places don't all of the sudden turn on
>>> wifi once you pay. It's there for every customer. Hello Jill... Just
>>> pull into the parking lot and you've got wifi. It's no big deal to them.
>>> They all provide it. The occasional freeloader doesn't bother
>>> them.
>
> That musta changed. I've read of several instances where
> wifi-freeloaders have been arrested. This several yrs ago.
>
I found a few articles about that, all at least ten years old. It seems
to be a grey area. One thing all the articles mentioned was the (mostly
coffee shop?) owners didn't do anything to secure their networks so
anyone sitting in the parking lot could just tap in. Is it theft? I
dunno. Nor do I care since I don't carry my laptop around with me. LOL

>> It was about people who bought a cheap cup of coffee at McD's and
>> got free refills but they *brought their own food*.
>
> Hah! I thought you meant Starsucks. What do they consider a "cheap
> cup of coffee". Do they sell such an animal?
>
I've never been to Starbucks but I seriously doubt they offer free refills.

> BTW, if I owned a food establishment (I do not), I'd also kick out
> anyone bringing outside food into my place.
>
> nb
>
Exactly my point, nb! I was attending classes in the morning and
stopped for a cup of coffee and a McMuffin beforehand. McD's was right
across the street. These people only paid for a cup of coffee (again,
free refills) but were brown bagging their own food. It struck me as
odd (then and now) they were allowed to do that.

Jill

On 27 Feb 2017 15:00:31 GMT, notbob > wrote:

>On 2017-02-27, jmcquown > wrote:
>
>> On 2/26/2017 1:42 PM, Gary wrote:
>
>>> Are you nuts? HAve no clue? The places don't all of the sudden turn on
>>> wifi once you pay. It's there for every customer. Hello Jill... Just
>>> pull into the parking lot and you've got wifi. It's no big deal to them.
>>> They all provide it. The occasional freeloader doesn't bother
>>> them.
>
>That musta changed. I've read of several instances where
>wifi-freeloaders have been arrested. This several yrs ago.

Lol, arrested? At gun point? German shepherds?

Bruce wrote:
>
> On 27 Feb 2017 15:00:31 GMT, notbob > wrote:
>
> >On 2017-02-27, jmcquown > wrote:
> >
> >> On 2/26/2017 1:42 PM, Gary wrote:
> >
> >>> Are you nuts? HAve no clue? The places don't all of the sudden turn on
> >>> wifi once you pay. It's there for every customer. Hello Jill... Just
> >>> pull into the parking lot and you've got wifi. It's no big deal to them.
> >>> They all provide it. The occasional freeloader doesn't bother
> >>> them.
> >
> >That musta changed. I've read of several instances where
> >wifi-freeloaders have been arrested. This several yrs ago.
>
> Lol, arrested? At gun point? German shepherds?

Beware the wifi police.

notbob wrote:
>
> On 2017-02-27, jmcquown > wrote:
>
> > On 2/26/2017 1:42 PM, Gary wrote:
>
> >> Are you nuts? HAve no clue? The places don't all of the sudden turn on
> >> wifi once you pay. It's there for every customer. Hello Jill... Just
> >> pull into the parking lot and you've got wifi. It's no big deal to them.
> >> They all provide it. The occasional freeloader doesn't bother
> >> them.
>
> That musta changed. I've read of several instances where
> wifi-freeloaders have been arrested. This several yrs ago.

Hello there, notbob. I've gone several times to McDonalds.
Only about a half mile away. I can take my laptop and sit
in the parking lot and use their free wifi for as long as
I care to.

Problem with me is.....NO WAY can I sit in that parking lot
without buying something. eheh I LOVE the food.

Other places also have free wifi, no problem with using it
even if you are not there. Just about everywhere we go here
in tourist town has free wifi. It's just provided as a
normal thing.

On Monday, February 27, 2017 at 6:41:46 AM UTC-10, Gary wrote:
> notbob wrote:
> >
> > On 2017-02-27, jmcquown > wrote:
> >
> > > On 2/26/2017 1:42 PM, Gary wrote:
> >
> > >> Are you nuts? HAve no clue? The places don't all of the sudden turn on
> > >> wifi once you pay. It's there for every customer. Hello Jill... Just
> > >> pull into the parking lot and you've got wifi. It's no big deal to them.
> > >> They all provide it. The occasional freeloader doesn't bother
> > >> them.
> >
> > That musta changed. I've read of several instances where
> > wifi-freeloaders have been arrested. This several yrs ago.
>
> Hello there, notbob. I've gone several times to McDonalds.
> Only about a half mile away. I can take my laptop and sit
> in the parking lot and use their free wifi for as long as
> I care to.
>
> Problem with me is.....NO WAY can I sit in that parking lot
> without buying something. eheh I LOVE the food.
>
> Other places also have free wifi, no problem with using it
> even if you are not there. Just about everywhere we go here
> in tourist town has free wifi. It's just provided as a
> normal thing.

Those *******s should let you sit inside. Just buy some burgers and fries or whatever the heck people eat over there. Make sure you write down how long they'll let you linger before they kick you out. Then, the next time you can complain if they don't let you stay your allotted time.

On 2017-02-26 1:33 PM, jmcquown wrote:
> On 2/26/2017 1:03 PM, Gary wrote:
>> dsi1 wrote:
>>>
>>> These days some places have to provide free WiFi to be competitive. I
>>> think that soon most businesses will be expected to provide this
>>> service for their customers.
>>
>> I live in a tourist vacation town. Almost every business here has free
>> wifi.
>>
> "Customers" being the operative word. You should not be able to just
> plop yourself down in a restaurant, etc. with your wireless device and
> not order anything.

Even if they order something there is a fair expectation that their
purchase is enough to pay for the time they occupy the table. It should
be a problem for someone to use the wifi to check email, to check news
updates, maybe do an quick online game. There are students who will sit
in a Starbucks and do their homework, write essays. Are there still
internet cafes to do things like that?

On Sunday, February 26, 2017 at 8:04:56 AM UTC-10, Gary wrote:
> dsi1 wrote:
> >
> > These days some places have to provide free WiFi to be competitive. I think that soon most businesses will be expected to provide this service for their customers.
>
> I live in a tourist vacation town. Almost every business here has free
> wifi.

I can see where WiFi will start to compete with the cellular networks. It is quite the security challenge though.