I can see where free wifi could be a drain on resources. If someone wants to rent an air conditioned/heated cubicle space with a 300w power and open wifi for $2

I can see where free wifi could be a drain on resources. If someone wants to rent an air conditioned/heated cubicle space with a 300w power and open wifi for $2/5 hours.. go for it. I can't quite see the economics in that, but I'm sure prices vary. If people use it like an average human (read the boards/news, check email, surf a bit while having your morning coffee) it's great. When some are turning it into a much more pricey proposition a lot of customers won't want to pay $7-$10 for the coffee you have to charge when they weren't going to sit there all day anyway. Libraries rock for this, which is also incidentally what they are for - free info, silence and breathing room to those who can't set it up themselves.