Some LA Coffee Shops Are Taking Wi-Fi Off the Menu

Posted by kdawson on Monday August 9, 2010 @12:15AM from the cup-of-bits-to-go dept.

As New York is putting Wi-Fi on wheels, reader Hugh Pickens notes a counter trend in Los Angeles coffee shops. (We remarked on a similar backlash in Seattle in 2005.) "Coffee shops were the retail pioneers of Wi-Fi, but Jessica Guynn reports in the LA Times that now some owners are pulling the plug after finding that Wi-Fi freeloaders who camp out all day nursing a single cup of coffee are a drain on the bottom line. Other owners strive to preserve a friendly vibe and keep their establishments from turning into 'Matrix'-like zombie shacks where people type and don't talk. 'There is now a market niche for not having Wi-Fi,' says Bryant Simon. After Dan and Nathalie Drozdenko turned off the Wi-Fi at their Los Angeles cafe, the complaints poured in, but so did the compliments: Lots of customers appreciated a wireless cup of joe at the Downbeat Cafe, a popular lunch spot in Echo Park. 'People come here because we don't offer it. They know they can get their work done and not get distracted.'"

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Re:They just need to treat it like it's a privileg by L0rdJedi · 2010-08-09 04:41 · Score: 0, Offtopic

Or you could just get up and keep an eye on it while ordering another coffee. I have yet to go to a coffee shop that was so big that you couldn't see every table and booth from the counter. Are you so fat and quiet that you can't yell or run after someone if they try to snatch your laptop?
My god, the level of entitlement around here is sickening.