Internet cafes were awesome, I used to go to them all the time. A group of us would all be playing EverQuest while others played DAoC, WoW, Counter Strike, Planetside, and some people just visited briefly to check their email..this was all back during the early 2000s. They sold 30 minute, 1 hour, all day and all night passes along with various snacks and energy drinks. This particular one was near Subway so I could stop there to grab my meal for the day and head next door for some gaming.
I don't think internet cafes would work too well these days though, at least in America, I know they're still popular in Japan. Almost everyone has a smart phone and PCs are more affordable these days. Maybe if they added some consoles and even those virtual reality headsets then charge by the hour or have similar passes as the ones I've previously mentioned then it could work.
We have internet cafes. They're called "home" with multiple PCs, mobile devices and consoles attached to the network by multiple family members. :P The added bonus: The kitchen, the bathroom and the bed / couch to lounge on when playing.
Oh and for anyone without all that, there are public libraries that are packed with PCs.
Some years back I used to live in quote "rural America" unquote. There was no cable option - uneconomic to lay the line - and as it was the cable company in the county city had closed. Sooo I signed up with the local Baby Bell (phone company). A few days later I discovered I had a whopping 20k download speed - rang up and was told I must be on a good day it was usually worse. I cancelled the same day and ordered a(n expensive) satelite dish. Wasn't wonderful but at least the connection speed was measured in megabytes.
The folks there are still complaining about the lack of internet today.
A company opened a wireless tower service - it closed due to lack of customers. They have had quotes but they are miles and miles out from the nearest city - a US top 20 one at that - but it would cost more than they want to pay. Even if a couple of hundred of them all agreed to sign up and use the service laid on for a minimum of a couple of years. (They won't, to independent etc., they think a company should do it if they want their business etc. except the reality is they don't want it at any price.
I don't know how common this is the US is a big place. Whole swathes of it have very low population density however. Which means that there is no incentive for anyone - cable, phone or wireless - to provide any service let alone an economic service.
Internet service cafes filled - and in some cases still fill - a gap. In e.g. villages (small cities in US parlance) that didn't / don't have the population to support everyone having access but one with enough people, living close eough together for it to work.
And I have played games that include "groups of people" who all take part from a cafe - not because they didn't have access at home but because it was social.
If you come across such a group just remember they all know each other and play together and - in a crunch - are likely to all jump the same way.
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I don't think internet cafes would work too well these days though, at least in America, I know they're still popular in Japan. Almost everyone has a smart phone and PCs are more affordable these days. Maybe if they added some consoles and even those virtual reality headsets then charge by the hour or have similar passes as the ones I've previously mentioned then it could work.
Played: EQ, EQ2, Vanguard, WAR, WoW, LoTRO, CoX, CO, GW2, FFXIV: ARR, AoC, Rift, TSW, SWTOR, TERA, BnS, ESO
The folks there are still complaining about the lack of internet today.
A company opened a wireless tower service - it closed due to lack of customers. They have had quotes but they are miles and miles out from the nearest city - a US top 20 one at that - but it would cost more than they want to pay. Even if a couple of hundred of them all agreed to sign up and use the service laid on for a minimum of a couple of years. (They won't, to independent etc., they think a company should do it if they want their business etc. except the reality is they don't want it at any price.
I don't know how common this is the US is a big place. Whole swathes of it have very low population density however. Which means that there is no incentive for anyone - cable, phone or wireless - to provide any service let alone an economic service.
Internet service cafes filled - and in some cases still fill - a gap. In e.g. villages (small cities in US parlance) that didn't / don't have the population to support everyone having access but one with enough people, living close eough together for it to work.
And I have played games that include "groups of people" who all take part from a cafe - not because they didn't have access at home but because it was social.
If you come across such a group just remember they all know each other and play together and - in a crunch - are likely to all jump the same way.