Yellowknife Online

This morning I sent out a message saying that Javaroma WiFi was back. At the time I had no idea how truthful that was so I wanted to check for myself.

Upon arriving at Javaroma just after lunch I was greeted by the manager, who I knew. I asked him if the rumors were true, was WiFi really back. Sure enough he said with a smile, it was. My next question was the one I cared about more, price. Months ago when WiFi was first taken out I suggested that they charge for it to discourage people from abusing the service, later I changed my outlook. The proper way to do it would be to continue offering the service for free but with limitations. Such as no downloading.

Well that is exactly what Javaroma has now done. Now, I unfortunately didn’t stay long enough to test it out, but was told that there would be no downloading only browsing online. Which is fine by me, what ever keeps the costs down while making customers happy.

So Yellowknifers who enjoy getting out of the office or house to do some relaxing internet browsing you are once again able to.

Are you going to take advantage of the free WiFi? Well if you do, I’ll see you there!

I was recently informed by Nancy via Twitter that Javaroma has canceled their free Internet Access because of a $700 Internet bill they received. I can’t say I’m surprised that they got the bill, it was bound to happen. What really shocks me is how it only happened now. They have had free Wifi there for years and surely people have taken advantage of it before and downloaded that big file or movie.

What I really don’t understand is why they are not looking in to their options. There are many Internet Cafe/ WiFi Hot Spot solutions out there. Look at Starbucks, they are partnered with AT&T, Boingo and others to provide WiFi access at almost every shop across North American. That’s a damn lot of Coffee Shops so surely our one Javaroma can come up with some sort of solution. If you Google “Internet Cafe Software” instantly you find several companies that offer software that can be used to regulate users Internet usage. I am also willing to bet if a small fee was tacked on to being able to use the Internet, people wouldn’t mind. I mean if they are spending $6 on a coffee, $5 for a hour or day of Internet shouldn’t be a big deal. Am I not right?

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think they are going in the wrong direction in this online era? Should they charge for Internet use? Let everyone know in the comments below.