Are Wi-Fi Squatters Killing Your Business?
When businesses first began offering free Wi-Fi to their customers, the initial intention was provide a value added service with the hope that it would bring in new business. However, with the proliferation of smart phones, tablets, and people running mobile offices, for many businesses, it’s actually driving some customers away, and this includes people that don’t use their Wi-Fi enabled devices.
For instance, many cafes and restaurants are seeing Wi-Fi squatters take up so much physical space in the business, that there is no room for other customers to sit down. Often, they may just demand a glass of water, and then just sit there for hours. Some people will simply walk out of a business if they see that there is no place to sit. This situation isn’t limited to just, restaurants either, as I have witnessed people at automotive service waiting rooms continuing to use the Wi-Fi long after their vehicles service work has been completed. In some cases squatters are using the business parking lot to do large file downloads, which gives you the double-whammy of having both your parking lot being full, and your bandwidth being eaten-up by these users.
Some business owners are now reporting a new style of squatter that tries to use the business as a their own personal platform to solicit new customers from the steady stream people coming through the door. In some cases, this alienates the customers, who would then no longer frequent the business.
Also, for some businesses, unprotected Wi-Fi can or passwords that are freely passed around can introduce new security risks to a business as well. If not properly secured, this could introduce a whole plethora of problems from Mal ware to Hackers.
Some of the ways companies are addressing these situations is by limiting the length of time that people can use the Wi-Fi, or restricting the use via frequent password changes.
If you would like some assistance with setting-up or securing your Wi-Fi, please contact the CCS Retail Systems Support Department.
– John