San Francisco Wi-Fi is free, but...

"San Francisco is forty-nine square miles, surrounded by reality", Paul Kantner, Jefferson Airplane.  I understand a little better now, about the cult of free wi-fi that is so prevalent in that town.  Recently, I served as arm candy for my wife on one of her business trips to the city by the bay, and I managed to see some friends at Sputnik, Placecast, and even got a few minutes with the ever elusive Mr. Rafer.  The town was full of free wi-fi signals, but also full of signs like the one here.  San Francisco is for sure unique, in a galaxy of ways, but the presence of these signs is a reminder that the tragedy of the commons is upon us nation-wide in terms of unfettered wi-fi usage in venues.  San Franciscans are of a more altruistic and community-minded sort than the rest of us, so the signs pleading for an additional purchase or giving up your table may be oft-times heeded.  Since I was ostensibly on vacation, I didn't conduct a survey. 

In my beloved New York, getting over on somebody is pretty much the local sport.  People feel entitled, and to nurse a cup of coffee for an hour while taking a table that could be turned four times in that hour drives a venue owner crazy, and makes the table hog smug.  No wonder they are turning off the wi-fi.

Artesian wi-fi, the open access point with the SSID set to "coffeeshop" is a missed opportunity to do some marketing and advertising to the venue's customers, and for those venues in a good position, to collect some extra revenue from somebody nursing that cup of coffee.  One of my locations occasionally hits four figures per month collected from wi-fi users.  Nothing to sneeze at or ignore.  Since I'm from New York, I really don't care if you call me greedy, but it's supply and demand, baby.  In SF, the supply of wi-fi is such that the competitive landscape drove the price down to zero very quickly, but in other cities and towns, this isn't the case, and if you price the access reasonably, people don't mind paying for a day or even a month subscription.

If your venue's economic situation dictates it, you should offer free wi-fi, but use it as an opportunity to market your own goods and services, or some of your partners' goods and services through the welcome page interaction.  You don't have to collect email addresses or other personal info, You can advertise on complimentary cards with access codes, and on the web pages themselves.  This is a perfect vehicle for a Business Improvement District or a Chamber of Commerce to help merchants in an area market themselves, and the businesses that aren't venues for wi-fi users ( like hardware stores ) can advertise themselves to the users sitting in cafes, moving people from store to store, and fostering repeat visits.  You can't really do that with a plain vanilla linksys router.