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Starbucks users query...

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Ya'll that use Starbucks... What kind of WiFi service do you see in shops in your area? My city of about one hundred thousand has three SBs and all are fairly slow. Speedtest.net usually gives 800k to 1m down at the most. Today, my closest one metered a constant 160k, which is about unusable. In fact, it was unusable. I closed the clamshell and drove downtown to an independent shop for my morning coffee and 6meg down speed. Great little coffee shop, except that the parking situation is horrible during the week.

So... Just wondering if the problem is nation wide, or just in Hicksville.
 

pigoo3

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Remember...Speedtest results will depend on how many folks are using the WiFi at the same time.

- Empty Starbucks = better speed
- Busy Starbucks = slower speed

But (in general)...the Speedtest results you posted are great for comparing to other folks Starbucks results.:)

- Nick

p.s. 100,000 does not equal "Hicksville";)...I've lived in MUCH smaller towns (and MUCH larger). When you start talking towns the size of 1,000-2,000 or smaller...no Starbucks, no traffic lights, no gas station...AND not close to anything larger...then we're talking "smalltown" USA!;)
 
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Remember...Speedtest results will depend on how many folks are using the WiFi at the same time.

Of course. But it is fairly easy to tell if someone is watching a movie over their coffee. No keyboard input, laid back with their coffee and just staring at the screen. It happens, but not in this town. Even in an almost empty store, the local SB's will barely show a Youtube video. And today, it was only me and another dude trying to read the news.

My admittedly unscientific sampling over the last month or so seems to indicate that the population of the shop(s) don't seem to correlate with speeds.

Of course, there is always the possibility of someone sitting outside in a car downloading porn or massive updates.
 

chscag

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Of course, there is always the possibility of someone sitting outside in a car downloading porn or massive updates.

Starbucks blocks porn sites, and anyone sitting outside doing a massive download is wasting their time.

But getting back to your original question... There are a myriad of Starbucks shops here in the Dallas Fort Worth area and none of them have fast internet connections. My local Tom Thumb supermarket (subsidiary of Safeway) has a better connection. ;)

I'm in and out of Starbucks quite often and from the number of free loaders that use the wireless, it's a wonder Starbucks is making money. Someone buys a small coffee ($1.89) and nurses it for four hours while using the free wireless.
 
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The greater Los Angeles Area has about 10 billion Starbucks and the speed varies in each. The wider US seems pretty much the same. In general, if it will load my App and let me pay for my drink that way I don't worry about it. If it won't then I turn off Wi-Fi. I don't hang out and use their Wi-Fi so I'm not sure what any of them are like from a higher bandwidth perspective.
 
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Starbucks blocks porn sites, and anyone sitting outside doing a massive download is wasting their time.

They might block porn in DFW, but over here a hundred miles east of you they don't. Or else there are massive holes in their filter. Just a few days ago I wanted to see a Youtube newsitem video. I almost never click on a link in an obscure site, so I URLed to youtube manually then prepared to paste the video link. Somewhere between the coffee and the keyboard I missed YOUtube, and got to some XXXtube in its full glory. Fortunately, I was sitting with my back to the wall and didn't display my erotic surfing to all and sundry.

But, as my grandparents always said, you can complain about it or fix it. So after some vocal surfing with the techie patrons of the local SB (which was actually running fairly fast on Saturday) I was pointed to a small independent cafe in a residential area. Nice owner, it's on my side of town, the coffee is cheaper and better and the connection is blazingly fast, speedtesting at over 6mb consistantly. And he allows massive system updates and program downloads as long as you do it during non-busy hours and don't bog down other patrons.

I might actually get that new update to Xcode that I have been trying to download on my "broadband" connection at home for the last several months.
 

chscag

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Nice owner, it's on my side of town, the coffee is cheaper and better and the connection is blazingly fast, speedtesting at over 6mb consistantly. And he allows massive system updates and program downloads as long as you do it during non-busy hours and don't bog down other patrons.

You're lucky to find a nice place like that - and one where coffee is less expensive than Starbucks. :) As far as blocking certain sites, it's company policy at Starbucks. Probably a hole in the filter in your local shop. The best place around here is at our local supermarket (Tom Thumb). They have a nice coffee shop within the store with free WiFi. But nowadays when I'm away from my home office I just use my Verizon 4G iPad on cellular to get a connection.
 
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I use the starbucks in skokie, about 20 miles from downtown chicago and the internet speed varies greatly. some days it is quite fast and other days it is quite slow and almost unusable. the dunkin donuts by me is very consistent and is usually quite fast. both are at and t wifi.
 
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I can't stand Starbucks. The last time I went there, I ordered a regular coffee. I got a cup half-full of coffee. Asked where's the rest, and received a whitty reply stating they were out of coffee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I pulled a new coffee bag from the display case, and said, "Here ya go!" They were not out of coffee, the woman just could not stand being corrected. Their internet is painfully slow...just fast enough to be considered internet so they can use it as advertisement to match all the other coffee shops.

It's Caribou for me. Great service, and fast internet, plus free random treat every now and then.
 

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I rarely go to SB but was at one here in Central calif with a friend. He had his Macbook and me my iPad. I was getting 800k-1Mbps if I remember correctly. Was at a couple here in my city 200K Plus population and it was around 1Mbps or maybe a bit more.
 

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