Give It Away, Give It Away, Give It Away Now

Wired claims that the surest way to make money providing wireless Internet access is to give it away. Counterintuitive though that may sound, I'm writing this very blog post from DC WiFi cafe Tryst, preparing to order an overpriced coffee beverage and sandwich.

So… why does it work like that? Partly it's a question of transaction costs: I don't want to have to worry about going through the hassle of paying for access and thinking about how long I'm spending online when I've got perfectly good access at home. But if I can go out for lunch or coffee and just bring my laptop along, I might well stay a little longer and have another drink as long as I'm here…