Starbucks Makes Decision That Could Save Real Estate Agents Money
By Chad A. Johnson · February 23, 2008
Don’t get too excited, Starbucks isn’t giving away free mochas. They are giving you an opportunity to get Internet access in Starbucks locations for free.Starbucks’ long time partnership with T-Mobile to provide paid Internet hotspots in the company’s stores is coming to an end. Starting in April, AT&T will be replacing T-Mobile as Starbucks’ Internet service provider.
The new AT&T-Starbucks deal provides AT&T DSL subscribers (those with 1.5Mbps packages or higher) with free Wi-Fi Internet access at all company-owned Starbucks locations. This means that your $25.00 a month home DSL connection will provide you with over 17,000 Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the country, free of charge.
I see this as real competition for cellular phone based mobile broadband services. My current AT&T mobile broadband subscription is costing nearly $60 a month. That is $720 a year. Ironically, most of the time that I use that connection, I am at or within walking distance of a Starbucks.
Once the transition to AT&T is implemented in my area, I will be cancelling my mobile broadband account and switching from cable Internet access to DSL at home.
With real estate agent budgets so tight right now, this tactic seems like a smart one. Besides, if you aren’t within 2 minutes of a Starbucks, you probably won’t be getting a cell phone signal anyway.
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Tags: real estate agents, Starbucks, real estate agent, MyTechOpinion, real estate
You are so right on! I too will cancel my cable modem & ATT Wireless Plan! This could save me up to $1000 per year!
Where’s the good news? The huge majority of Starbucks customers will still not enjoy ‘free’ internet access. Am I missing something here?
I MUST become an AT&T customer before I can benefit from ‘free’ internet at Starbucks?
Please tell me I have this wrong.
Free internet access means I open my laptop and I have a connection. What you describe isn’t even in the same arena.
Chad,
The only problem with your analysis is that you forget that you’ll be spending anywhere from $1.65 to $5.25 for the coffee that you’ll feel obliged to ‘enjoy’ while sitting in the Starbucks on your ‘free’ wifi.
I’ve enjoyed (and will miss) having the Tmobile Hot Spot as part of my cell phone account, but rarely enjoy the experience without dropping at least a couple bucks on a cup of joe.
I’m with Jeff on this one - you’ll waste much much more on overpiced coffee than you’ll ever save - that is the only reason starbux offers “free” access
I’ve had access to the ATT Broadband free at McDonald’s the past year — however, having cable over DSL is amazing. I canceled the att broadband long ago — bottom line Starbucks isn’t giving anything away for free.
shall we say … hoorrayy..