F.O.C.

The above three letters are my favourite in the alphabet when used to get my attention for products and services. They will always get me to look twice at a buying opportunity and consider my want over my need for a product. "Free Of Charge" opportunities used to be sought out and highlighted as milestones given by companies wanting to "get you in". That was before the web decided a lot of things should and would be free like information, marketing, publishing along with opinions and privacy. Yet some things may seem freer than others and some things come with a conscience.

I've been sitting in the cafe for about 90 minutes with the remnants of a cupcake and a couple of coffees in front of me that have been brewed beyond taste. Why? FOC WiFi of course. Free with some caveats and obligations open to abuse. How long can I sit here using the free network access? How many cups of coffee pay for my stay? What's a cupcake worth, 30 minutes or 10 minutes? The waitress rolls hers eyes in a way I interpret as buy another coffee you free loader or vacate the seat. So my predicament remains as my conscience is pricked to make a move or buy another of yesterday's cupcakes.

I'm not as concerned for the global players like Starbucks and McDonalds but the local guy on the corner paying for the WiFi is a different matter. How much does he make out of a coffee or how much does he pay his staff? Not much on either account, so I keep buying coffees. Yet somewhere I must cross a line where I have truly paid for my seat and the WiFi. From a personal view, ten dollars usually makes me feel more at home and comfortable taking up space on the WiFi band width.

Yet there is another consideration I take into account and that's the occupancy of the cafe whenever I hook into their network. Empty and I'm happy to sit on a coffee for a long time as I'm helping out perceptually that it's worthwhile coming inside for anyone walking by seeing customers inside and the justification that the owner has already paid for the WiFi anyway, right? A full cafe makes me want to continually have a full coffee in front of me as now the cafe is working on turning over of tables and I don't want to look like that freeloader.

So taking into account all of the above, my calculations on time spent on FOC WiFi works on supply and demand and keeping a rough track of my purchases. Having said that I can buy a month's worth of connection for the iPad for around $20.00 and I surely drink more coffees than that in a week so maybe the cafes should be consider highlighting FOC WiFi without making you think twice about sitting on one cup for an hour?

Steve Jobs wants to turn the whole world into a free WiFi zone and if that happens, cafes will have to do more to entice customers into their establishments. A good cup of coffee would be a start.