Zoka Coffee Roaster and Tea Co.

Fall of an Empire. I feel lucky to have visited zoka during it's heyday. It had the feel of a busy European coffee establishment, full of people from all over, mostly young, talking about interesting subjects. One could overhear talk of health, ethics, the politics and times, all mixed together in a high density but comfortable place.

Business people, students, or anyone who wanted to work late with the aroma of coffee could go there.

They have since invoked a wifitime limit.

"crickets"

I went back, and to my surprise noticed the detritus of a coffee establishment. The receipt now held wifi credentials, and after about 20 minutes I figured out that after connected to their network you needed to enable your browser to use a system wide proxy, and then log in. It would then give you a session 2 hours long. After the time period elapsed, you would have to then buy a new drink / item to add more time.

Whether by inconvenience, or the aversion to being put on a drink regiment, the population has declined to near extinction.

Gone is the previous atmosphere that once defined this establishment.

The herds have broken up. Some back to their dorms, others to their lonely apartments, and again still a tourist moves on to another place after a quick review of the internet policy.

Advise:

Session leases per mac address with a time limit is ok, BUT with a duration of 24 hours.

This will keep the encryption cracking hounds with directional arrays from sniffing and decoding your signal (keeping it to your clients alone), AND most importantly remove the hassle of the 2 hour repay.

Customers will feel welcome and return.

They will be happy knowing the wifi is secure, and that it is only one simple login per day.…