Starbucks Wi-Fi: not so free
Yes, everything has a catch. But Starbucks' new offer of free Wi-Fi has so many restrictions that it's really annoying, if not just wrong.
Starting this week, the company is giving away free Internet access, thanks to a new agreement with AT&T.
Well, not really a lot of access. It's only two hours a day. Consecutive hours, even.
And it's making this offer to very special people: its customers!
You have to buy a $5 Starbucks gift card first.
Did I say customers? I meant regular customers. How are they going to ensure you stay a regular customer?
People must use that card at Starbucks at least once a month to keep the kilobytes flowing across their (not-quite-free) gateway to the Intertubes!
Plus you must register for the Rewards program. Okay, so you do get something for free with that: a drink coupon for signing up.
But as you might expect given the way the rest of this deal has gone, you also must agree to receive four e-mails a year from AT&T.
(All this does not apply to existing AT&T wireless and DSL customers, who get unlimited Wi-Fi, because essentially they're paying for it already.)
And even with all the caveats, Starbucks couldn't keep up with the demand to register the cards, according to this PC World article!
Almost makes you want to find really free Wi-Fi elsewhere. I see Caribou Coffee has an offer with far fewer restrictions.
(P.S. I've already admitted I'm not much of a fan of Starbucks coffee, or even coffee in general. Anyone out there think I'm being too hard on them?)
(Getty Images)
A native of Vietnam, 
Comments
Holy wow this is the best deal I've seen since I gave those people my credit card number over the phone to win a prize!
Posted by: Anonymous | June 6, 2008 11:32 AM