Pay-2-Surf WIFI

[Thinix]

If you have pay-2-surf internet in your shop please post what kind of revenue is generated form it in a typcial month.

Please specify also if you have complete pay-2-surf model or if you do some sort of hybrid such as slow speed for free and higher speed for a fee.

Also I would be interested in knowing how much people are paying for this service.

For full discosure I am asking this in an effort to determine pricing for a low-cost turnkey product that does pay-2-surf internet access that my company is going to market to among other things, coffee shops.

Thanks,

Anthony

 

[nickle]

Not sure about how you would execute a business model for that. Ofcourse that's your business not mine. Let me just give my 2 cents worth since nobody has responded to you. i just purchased a coffee shop in a vacation/seasonal type location. I have a sign prominently displaying that I have free wifi. Judgeing by the local forums there are more than a few people who inquire about where to go cofee shop-wise for free wifi when coming here on vacation. Because my place is one of the few I get a certain amont of business from that. My cost is part of my phone/cable/wifi deal with the local carrier. $99 per month for wifi, unlimited phone, and cable tv connection. So lets say $33 per month. I definitely get that back. If one guest per day comes in that otherwise would not - well there you go. To get to your point... I did examine the pros and cons of charging a small fee for use. Under that model I would have charged a very low fee, $2. That comes with certain expectations naturally. To charge more would in some way invite the guest to stick around longer than he is welcome because he may want to "get his money's worth" so to speak. Most shops have limited seating and I am no exception. Someone comes in to use their laptop to check email, do a little business no problem. Its the folks who camp out and take up space long after their peeceived worth of purchase has expired that spoil the well. Wow, that sounds bad but it is a business reality and as such must be dealt with just like the cost of trash removal or the power bill. Hope some of this helped. If not then reply and I would be happy to discuss a more refined response. I dont open til March so I would be happy to be at your disposal to provide insight. Good luck either way.

 

[CCafe]

He double posted and this thread was never deleted. Here's his other post that was responded too viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8081&p=35419#p35419.

As for a reply I've ran a cyber cafe for over 11 years in the coffee shop I work with. It started out with 3 PC's and is now down to one. It has a cash acceptor on the side and uses Kiosk Logix software http://www.netstop-kiosk.com/. It pulls enough money in to pay for the Internet bill which runs around $100/month. At the same time we give a way free wifi to those who have their own laptops.

It works, its paid for itself, and we own it and don't have to pay a 3rd party a single dime. This is the best solution I have found yet.

 

[caffe biscotto]

CCafe, using that system, could you apply a time limit per use? Or better yet, per dollar amount? For example, the above poster (nickle), would charge $2 internet access, but as he pointed out, the customer may want to stick around for an unreasonable amount of time.
Maybe 10 minute access per $1?

 

[CCafe]

I should say that our system is setup to charge 1 dollar for every 10 minutes. So we don't care how long they sit around for. You can set it up to pay per page if you like but that can get messy as pop ups count for 1 page each.

There are so many features I can't list them all but for a pay as you so system I haven't found anything that will come close to matching this software. Printing 1 page will deduct 2 minutes from the timer. Also there is an option to use coin acceptor as well as a credit card swipe. The swipe will also work with gift cards. And lastly one of my favorite features is the auto-logoff which engages after 3 minutes of no activity. Keeps credit card bills from running up.

This software keeps track of every place a person visits. It doesn't record private information, but keeps tabs on websites. Also runs a maintenance schedule and automatically reboots after every 15 customers or at 3am. (These can be set for any number of clients and time)