Setting up a WiFi Solution for you business that makes sense for you and your customers
How to clear up this dilemma: Should I provide free WIFI to my customers/patrons or not?
Should you provide free Wifi to your customers?
Did you ever have a dilemma like this? It’s a common enough problem but many people refuse to think about it at all, because they don’t want to have to make a decision. Some people just worry endlessly, without ever finding a way to overcome the difficulty and move forward.
Current Situation
Precisely what is the prevailing situation? Why don’t we take a look at it in closer detail. Would it include some or all of the following? You might have additional details you could add as well
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Should you provide free wifi to your customers? Many customers especially restaurant, coffee shop, gym or hotel visitors expect free wifi when they visit these locations and base the choice of using those businesses on the presence of free wifi being available. Maybe you don’t want customers who just want to sit around using up your bandwidth. Perhaps the atmosphere of your business is more socially active and outgoing? The fact of the matter is, if you want to attract more customers, having free wifi can be a powerful incentive for people to come into your business.%LINK1%
Problems
At this time why don’t we take a look at what has precipitated the current business climate.
1. The prevalence of mobile hand held devices, smart phones, tablets, PDA’s and iPods etc has exploded in the last 5 years to the point that every person seems to have a device now that can log in to the internet. 2. People expect to be able to check their devices at any and all times and get a signal to the internet. 3 Even though you might want to create an atmosphere where people can relax and disconnect from the “leash” of a phone, the reality is people are not comfortable when they are cut off from this form of connectivity. Connectivity expectations are here to stay. It may behoove the small business owner to provide internet services via wifi to their customers. It will create a feeling of good will and a sense that you are there to meet their needs as you seek to make your customers relaxed and happy.
Possible Solution Options
Although your problem may be a challenging one, there are some possible solutions to it. You may have already considered a few or even all of these, but why don’t we take a closer look at them. These are merely alternatives, you don’t need to avoid them out of hand, or accept any of them at this time, simply because each one of these is going to be investigated more closely. Your initial option is to get the cheapest month to month service of about 10 gigabits of data download and 1 gigabit upload. There are many low cost plans that start in this range for as little as 40 to $50 per month. If you opt for a higher price plan you can also consider adding tv service and additional bandwidth for around $100-$150 per month on avg in large cities like Los Angeles.
The “just refuse to do something” choice is nearly always possible, mainly because it may well be the cheapest, even if it is extremely tough. It always must be considered.
Your 2nd alternative (remember, we’re simply itemizing possibilities here) is to do nothing.
If your store or restaurant is in huge “demand” and your customers are loyal and flock to your business, you could simply wait and do nothing but in the long run this will certainly hurt your bottom line, especially if you are in a food service or coffee shop style business.%LINK2%
Again, there is always going to be an extremely costly possibility. Maybe this option is it? From time to time, it is the only way but at the very least you will have thought about all of the lower cost issues, before deciding on shelling out lots of money or time.
Your third alternative could be to maintain the status quo for a while longer. This might be the costliest decision of all as your competitors siphon off your customers by enticing them with seamless high speed internet when they visit their locations.
There may be a moderate expense alternative that may help you out over a temporary patch, even if it doesn’t last for a long time.
Your final choice might be to just dip your toe in the water and sign up for a low cost internet access package that includes the rental cost of a modem and a wireless access point that you can install in a central location in your business in the ceiling or high up on a wall to cover your shop with lovely wifi signals. Of course you will need to install the hard cabling or data wires to the modem and WAP so they can do their jobs flooding your premises with wifi.%LINK3%
There is usually an alternative that might require you making use of your personal time, instead of funds that you may not have access to. Sometimes, this implies mastering new skills or routines.
Discussion of options:
This is now the point at which the alternatives which have been outlined can be looked at, to check out the advantages and disadvantages. It’s invariably crucial to check out both sides of any issue and to consider all of the negative and positive factors of the alternatives shown. The very first choice was:
Get the cheapest month to month service of about 10 gigabits of data download and 1 gigabit upload. there are many low cost plans that start in this range for as little as 40 to $50 per month. if you opt for a higher price plan you can also consider adding tv service and additional bandwidth for around $100 per month.
What are the pros of this option?
You will have basic internet service for your patrons. They will no longer have an excuse for not choosing your brand, if not having wifi was keeping them out of your store.
What are the downsides of this option?
Now you have just become like everyone else who provides free wifi. Also you may find there are now individuals camped out in your store who are taking up valuable space sucking down your internet.
Balancing out the advantages and disadvantages for this option, which one would you choose?
But if the alternative is losing patrons who need internet, the choice seems very clear.
The second option to think about was:
if your store or restaurant is in huge “demand” and your customers are loyal and flock to your business, you could simply wait and do nothing but in the long run this will certainly hurt your bottom line, especially if you are in a food service or coffee shop style business.
Consider some of the positives with this option?
If you are a very established and your brand is in high demand, people may seek you out just to be seen in your establishment and to identify with what your brand means to them. This could definitely be the case for some businesses and in that case providing wifi would just not be a necessity to attract more business. For most however this will not be the case and an internet connection at your store can help bring in more customers, all else being equal.
What are the cons of this option?
The only cons of not having internet is that everyone in your establishment will be glued to their devices and paying littla attention to their immediate surroundings.
Balancing out the positives and negatives for this option, which do you prefer?
Weighing out our considerations, it seems clear that having internet access is probably the best option for most small business owners who are trying to attract business, especially if you are in the food or beverage services business.
The next option to take into account was:
Doing nothing might be the costliest decision of all as your competitors siphon off your customers by enticing them with seamless high speed internet when they visit their location.
Consider some of the pros of this choice?
Its hard to imagine a positive of losing customers. If you crave quiet and don’t want to be disturbed by your customers, then perhaps you should not provide free wifi.
What are the negatives with this option?
Negatives consequences of not having this service could be devastating to the bottom line when customers stop patronizing your business.
Evaluating out the advantages and disadvantages with this option, which would you choose?
We definitely want more happy customers, and making a little free wifi available to them seems like the happiest solution for everybody.
The 4th option to consider was:
Dip your toe in the water and sign up for a low cost internet access package that includes the rental cost of a modem and a wireless access point that you can install in a central location in your business in the ceiling or high up on a wall to cover your shop with lovely wifi signals. of course you will need to install the hard cabling or data wires to the modem and wap so they can do their jobs flooding your premises with wifi. %LINK2%
Consider some of the benefits with this choice?
You can get an idea of how much demand you will have on your network and monitor for a while to see if its adequate. If not you can upgrade.
Consider some of the negative aspects of this option?
Negative might be if the network gets overloaded and stops working well, it might be more frustrating than beneficial to offer lower cost bandwidth and it may be necessary to up the ante and provide a faster albeit more expensive internet experience to keep everyone in their happy place.
Evaluating out the benefits and drawbacks with this option, which one is best?
It seems clear that small business should be ready to provide good reliable basic internet service for its customers in this day and age we live in.
Discussion of Recommendations
The options have all been identified and the advantages and disadvantages for each alternative identified and discussed and a favourite position for each individual option uncovered. At this point it’s time to weigh the choices against each other.
The options were:
Get the cheapest month to month service of about 10 gigabits of data download and 1 gigabit upload. there are many low cost plans that start in this range for as little as 40 to $50 per month. if you opt for a higher price plan you can also consider adding tv service and additional bandwidth for around $100 per month.
If your store or restaurant is in huge “demand” and your customers are loyal and flock to your business, you could simply wait and do nothing but in the long run this will certainly hurt your bottom line, especially if you are in a food service or coffee shop style business.%LINK3%
Doing nothing might be the costliest decision of all as your competitors siphon off your customers by enticing them with seamless high speed internet when they visit their location.
Dip your toe in the water and sign up for a low cost internet access package that includes the rental cost of a modem and a wireless access point that you can install in a central location in your business in the ceiling or high up on a wall to cover your shop with lovely wifi signals. of course you will need to install the hard cabling or data wires to the modem and wap so they can do their jobs flooding your premises with wifi.
The preferred situation for each one was to find a way to ease into providing basic reliable internet service for you customers.
But if the alternative is losing patrons who need internet, the choice seems very clear.
Weighing out our considerations, it seems clear that having internet access is probably the best option for most small business owners who are trying to attract business, especially if you are in the food or beverage services business but also hospitality, boutique, education, book stores- any place people trend to congregate.
We definitely want more happy customers and making a little free wifi available to them seems like the happiest solution for everybody.
It seems clear that small business should be ready to provide good reliable basic internet service for its customers in this day and age we live in.
Final Decision
In this case, the selected alternative might be really obvious, though it is not always as clear cut as this.
Do some basic research to find out who provides the most cost-effective reliable internet service and sign up with the best provider ASAP.
Discover methods to find the best wifi system and delivery available to give your customers an even better internet experience when visiting your establishment.