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Panera Bread Is The Largest Provider Of Free WiFi

Posted by timothy on from the and-tasty-breads dept.

ayb11 writes "According to this article, the Panera Bread chain of Bakery/Cafes (think Starbucks that bakes their own bread) is the largest provider of free WiFi in the US. Their web site says, " There are currently 573 Wi-Fi enabled Panera Bread bakery-cafes, from California to Virginia. More are added every day." (Even my retired dad takes his barely-used laptop over there so he can get free refills on coffee.) Their full list of hotspots is here."

11 of 350 comments (clear)

  1. I bet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Offering free wifi costs them a lot of dough.

    1. Re:I bet by buro9 · · Score: 5, Funny

      As puns go they don't baguette much better than that. We can't all have an in-bread ability to come out with such wheaticisms.

      I can see how a bakery chain would knead to branch out it's offerings though.

      Damn, I thought of another pun but now it's scone!

      * Thanks to a few mates for coming up with these truly breadful puns.

    2. Re:I bet by OECD · · Score: 5, Funny

      Damn, I thought of another pun but now it's scone!

      D'OH!

      (sorry everyone)

      --
      One man's -1 Flamebait is another man's +5 Funny.
  2. got fibre? by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Funny
    A friend was lamenting how overloaded and lagged the local free WiFi was. Lag always put me in mind of a constipated network. Seems a bakery chain would have the fibre thing covered to keep your traffic moving smoothly, inside and out.

    "uuuugghhh need more bran"

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  3. If only by krgallagher · · Score: 5, Funny
    "There are currently 573 Wi-Fi enabled Panera Bread bakery-cafes, from California to Virginia. More are added every day."

    If only they served alcohol.

    --

    Insert Generic Sig Here:

  4. Its not really free by Shnizzzle · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's just factored into the prices. Panera is good but pretty pricey. I doubt they would let someone who doesn't order anything just sit in their and use the internet for a prolonged period of time. It's a resturant, not a coffee shop.

    1. Re:Its not really free by anjrober · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The Panera buy my office has a fireplace section with couches and stuffed chairs expressly to encourage people to lounge all day. I've had coworkers have meetings there and not order anything at all. On Saturday nights they have live music after that continues after people have stopped ordering food. I've seen the same people in there when I bought coffee in the AM and lunch in the PM.

  5. Allowed me to stop paying Starbucks/B&Noble by AnotherEscobar · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Panera's became my home office for 3 months last year. Every day, constant free coffee refills, and plenty of lunch-crowd eye-candy from the local office complex.

    Course, there was that time when someone sniffed/watched-over-my-shoulder while I was paying my bills and the next day I had to dispute a bunch of charges... but for just hanging out, a great place.

    Had hoped they could force T-Mobile to be more competitive, but this isnt something new and last I looked Starbucks still had ridiculous fees.

  6. Good for network testing by ewg · · Score: 5, Funny

    I used a Panera Bread hotspot last weekend to test my employer's new VPN client software. Needed an environment different from my home to isolate a problem.

    Two cups of "Colombian Supremo Reserva del Patrón" later, well, I hadn't solved the problem, but I was certainly focused on it.

    --
    org.slashdot.post.SignatureNotFoundException: ewg
  7. What about linksys by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 5, Funny

    I thought "linksys" was the largest provider of free WiFi in the world...

  8. Re:Panera! by NoData · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dude! Panera rockz! My favorite? "Vulgar Display of Flour."