I like Starbucks coffee. I really do. But I don’t go there very often anymore. There was a time in my life (about four years ago) that I bought coffee from Starbucks almost seven days a week. Of course, then I realized I could save around $500 a year if I cut out the coffee on the way to work and made my own once I got there. But I still like a cup of Starbucks now and then.

Often I like to get out of my office and work from a coffee shop to get a change of scenery. For these coffee shop hangout sessions, I stopped going to Starbucks a while back in favor of other coffee shops. Why? It’s simple: free wireless internet. When Starbucks first started offering wireless internet, it was through TMobile and it was very expensive--$6 an hour, $9 a day or $30 a month. Those kinds of prices seemed insane, so I started going elsewhere. Just about every other coffee shop has free wireless internet. This is what Starbucks doesn’t understand. Although there coffee is good, I’ll take a lesser cup of Joe if free WiFi is included.

So I was pretty excited when Starbucks announced they were moving from TMobile to AT&T for wireless internet and offering free service through the latter. Of course the “free” AT&T internet is limited to two hours and the patron has to have a registered Starbucks gift card. Okay, that seemed like a short amount of time, but it was better than nothing, so I made sure one of the gift cards loitering in my wallet was registered.

This week and last I’ve been in Louisiana visiting family and friends. I called Philip Wade on Saturday and he suggested we meet at the local Starbucks. Since I wanted to upload a video podcast for the cast iron site while we talked, I got to Starbucks a few minutes early so that I could go ahead and connect and begin the upload.

After ordering my tall black coffee, I opened up my MacBook and selected “AT&T” from the list of wireless networks. I noticed also that TMobile was in the list, too. For some strange reason, the AT&T network switched over to TMobile’s although the screen still showed the AT&T logo. From there, I wasn’t certain what to do.

My screen showed an AT&T logo and asked for my login name and password. There was no mention of Starbucks anywhere on the screen or in the drop down menu. What login name and password? I tried using the same information I had used a few days before on the Starbucks website when I registered my card. No luck.

Not knowing what to do next, and since there’s no Internet access beyond the login screen, it’s not like I could have my login name and password emailed to me, so I approached one of the baristas at the counter. The fellow behind the counter looked at my screen and said that he didn’t know what to do either. Now, consider that this is one of the employees at Starbucks and he has no idea how to get on to his own store’s wireless network. After poking around on the screen for a few minutes, he looked at me and said, “Well, if you sit in the front corner of the store, you can pick up Subway’s internet.”

Unbelievable.

I sat back down at my table. I saw Philip pulling up outside as I looked back down at my screen. There was a link for help, so I clicked on that and saw a toll-free support number for AT&T. As Philip was walking in the door, I was telling the fellow from AT&T what I had tried so far in order to log on. The support fellow seemed totally oblivious. “Did you say that you tried your login?”

“Well, what login do you mean? My Starbucks login, the account number on the Starbucks card or what?”

After I told him I’d tried both, he asked for my name again and tried to look me up in his database. Not finding my name anywhere, he suggested that perhaps my card was not set up for WiFi rewards. What?

Of course, he said that he couldn’t set that up for me. He’d have to give me another number to call where they could supposedly set up my card. I looked at Philip. “Starbucks’ internet is impossible to get on. Do you know of another coffee shop where the internet is free?” Philip suggested PJ’s across the street.

I still had the AT&T guy on the phone. “Do you want that number?” he asked.

“Forget it,” I said. “We’re going somewhere else.”

We went to PJ’s where getting on the internet was as easy as opening my MacBook.

This is why other coffee shops will continue to get my business over Starbucks. As I said, Starbucks’ coffee is great. But in the end, it’s about more than just the coffee--it’s about the experience. And they just don’t get that.

Tags: Starbucks