Can Chennai go Wireless?

When Oxford Bookstore in Nungabakkam opened its doors a couple months ago I popped in an set my laptop down on a small plastic table in the cafe to test for wireless. And for a little while the router pumped out a steady 256k unencrypted signal enabling me to work from somewhere other than my home office. It was a great deal for them because I would buy occasional books from their store, dozens of coffees and lunches. It was bliss until the store manager clasped got the sick idea that he could eek a little more money out of me by signing on with Tata Indicom or Reliance to make me pay for wireless by the hour.

So I packed my bags and now alternate my time between the only two free wireless bastions that I know of in the city: Amethyst in Gopalapuram and Anokhi on Chamiers. These two family run establishments are the cream of the crop here in Chennai, and not only have great gardens and to relax in, I have written some of my best pieces while watching roving troupes of Mongeese (Mongooses?) trot by.

The most successful cafes in the United States offer wireless as a free perk. They bank on the fact that people will come there, and order a lot of coffee while taking care of their computing. As far as a business expense goes, all a cafe has to spend is 4000 rupees on a wireless router and another 1000 rupees a month for the broadband service. They make that money back on my patronage alone.

So why is is that Barrista, Coffee World, Cafe Coffee Day and Oxford Bookstore haven't yet figured out that making wireless free means they are going to get more business?

Bloggers in Chennai could make a huge difference on the quality of free-wifi in the city by calling up these cafes and asking them to consider dropping the corporate enabled services and biting the bullet to provide a free service to their customers.