Five Sacramento Restaurants And Coffee Shops Offering Free WiFi
On sunny morning last summer, John Hazelton, 26, of Sacramento, was sitting in the N Street Cafe (2022 N Street) enjoying another of the expanding Sacramento conveniences — free wireless, high-speed Internet access.
Starbucks may have been the first coffee establishment to offer easily accessible remote access to the Internet. But a growing number of coffeehouses and other businesses also now offer WiFi (Wireless Fidelity), the popular acronym for a high-speed wireless local area computer network.
Unlike Starbucks, which charges a day or a monthly use fee, more independent businesses are offering free Internet access as a customer service.
"I kept driving by and noticing people sitting outside using their computers," said Hazelton, a college student. "I didn't know, but I figured the place must be offering free WiFi . . . I've been coming in for a while now."
With little fanfare, Robert Carr Jr. and his business partner, Erin Frey, the former owners, began offering high-speed computer access to customers in June 2005, a few months after N Street Cafe opened.
It wasn't long before other restaurants and coffee shops did the same.
Tupelo Coffeehouse & Roasters (5700 Elvas Ave.) Gonul's (3839 J Street), a California/Mediterranean cuisine restaurant, prominently advertise their free WiFi access. And most recently, Sargent's House Of Coffee (1121 Alhambra Ave.), which opened last December and serves only French-pressed coffee, also offers customers free WiFi.
Students from area high schools and colleges, business commuters going to or leaving work, service technicians and self-employed entrepreneurs seeking to get away from work routines, are increasingly using Sacramento establishments as offices away from home.
Those who offer free WiFi in Sacramento are at the forefront of the business community. The recent announcement that West Sacramento officials want to offer free WiFi, particularly along its waterfront locations, only strengthens the rapidly growing trend. In this respect, Sacramento is technologically lagging behind many metropolitan areas. But it is catching up quickly.
Sacramento blogger James Raia is a freelance writer and publisher. Visit his web sites, ByJamesRaia.com, TheWeeklyDriver.com and GolfTribune.com.
