Starbucks Pours Some Free Wi-Fi In Canada and the United States

Dave Forde — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:29:43 +0000

Starbucks has turned on free Wi-Fi in their Canadian and US stories on July 1, 2010 allowing customers to surf the internet with no cost to the customer. The new program will make provide unlimited wi-fi with no need for a username and password.

“Our customers were asking for a simplified Wi-Fi offering, and free Wi-Fi has been a top request on MyStarbucksIdea.com. We’re excited to turn this feedback into action and believe our customers will be delighted with the enhanced experience they’ll find in Starbucks stores,” said Howard Schultz, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Starbucks.

In Canada Starbucks operates 750 stores and in the United States there are close to 6,800 (US stores are powered by AT&T’s wi-fi).

Later this fall, Starbucks plans to introduce the Starbucks Digital Network, in partnership with Yahoo!. This new online experience, currently planned for U.S. company-operated stores, will offer customers free, unrestricted access to a collection of paid sites and services, exclusive content and previews, free downloads and local community news.

“Bringing one click, free Wi-Fi to Starbucks opens up new opportunities for our customers and gives us the backdrop to continue to bring innovation to their in-store experience. We’re finding new ways to bridge the third place coffeehouse environment with the digital space, and look forward to sharing that with our customers,” said Stephen Gillett, Starbucks executive vice president, chief information officer and general manager of Digital Ventures.

Vex Canada Launches, FREE Wi-Fi Everywhere For Everyone

Dave Forde — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:34:53 +0000

For years we’ve heard the promise of “free Wi-Fi” and here in Canada we’re now one step closer to those words that will keep Canadians always connected. Vex Canada, a division of Vex Corporation which is a technology-based firm offering free Wi-Fi through its hotspots in locations such as universities, shopping malls, airports, hotels, municipalities, convention centers and franchise restaurants including McDonalds and Starbucks. Canada is the newest expansion for Vex which now brings their global foot print to 35 countries.

As part of their launch Vex Canada has signed the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to bring a stadium-wide HotSpot to fans who attend games at the venue and they can now access the internet through their smart phones.

“This is a technology touchdown for the Tiger-Cats, as well as for the fans in Hamilton,” said David Lachapelle, Director of Technology, Hamilton Tiger Cats. “We recognized a desire for this kind of Wi-Fi access from our attendees, and anticipate a great response.”

Asif R. Khan, Country Manager, Vex Canada also adds, “Canadians have an appetite for free Wi-Fi access. As more and more Canadians shift their usage away from laptops and towards Wi-Fi enabled mobile devices, they’re hit even harder with data charges, which are very costly in this country. We see this as a great opportunity for advertisers to sponsor Wi-Fi and bring their message to consumers.”

I had a chance to catch up with Asif earlier today to talk about the launch and what it means for advertisers:

DF – How close are we to FREE Wi-Fi everywhere?

AK – Very close, we have already had success in a number of other countries and Vex Canada wants to be the providers of this same experience to Canadians. We are hard at work on the plans for Canada as part of our global strategy.

DF – How can Vex Canada offer Wi-Fi for free?

AK – Through our ad-supported model consumers can access any Vex powered HotSpot with no additional cost to them, of course this is aside from any normal data charges that their mobile data carrier charges.

What is the opportunity for marketers?

AK – We want to work with brands through our new ad-sponsored model to help their reach consumers online and offline. While overall advertising spending is down, online and in particular mobile advertising is growing, because of the shift to smart phones. Brands can leverage our technology platform to reach consumers in thousands of locations across Canada.

What is the Vex ad-sponsored model?

AK- It is pretty simple, brands who engage with us have opportunities such as exclusive branding. When a browser is opened on a device you will see the brand’s logo and a custom message. Offline we provided branded signage letting visitors of that particular HotSpot sponsored by XX brand.

Vex Canada has also launched a new blog, http://www.intheairtonight.ca

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