Free Wi-Fi Gets Results
from the good-to-hear dept
For a while here, we've been arguing that there are plenty of benefits to retail establishments that offer free WiFi access to their patrons. Glenn Fleishman of Wi-Fi Networking News has always appeared to agree with this sentiment, so it's no surprise to see that he's one of the first journalists to write an article looking into the actual benefits received to places that offer free WiFi. He discovered that many places say that the free internet access has a payback period of less than a year. It brings in new customers, who often buy more (or stay in hotel rooms that would otherwise go unused). In restaurants and cafes, it also tends to bring in customers during traditionally slow business hours. And, of course, all of this doesn't even begin to touch on the fact that there are tremendous benefits for workers at such places to make use of the WiFi access themselves. Yet another example to show to people who say that there are no business models based on "free".
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