Borders pulls a B&N, offers free WiFi to all patrons

In the gory, never-ending war for book store supremacy, Borders has just tapped Verizon in order to match Barnes & Noble's summer efforts to bring gratis WiFi to all who enter. Details of the arrangement are scant, but the takeaway is this: in "virtually all" of its more than 500 stores nationwide, Borders is hooking up with Verizon to bring free internet to anyone who sashays in (note: you literally have to dance upon entering) with a WiFi-enabled device. The service is expected to be fully rolled out by mid-October, giving you plenty of time to select the scarf and skinny jeans you'd like to be seen in by your fellow hipsters.

[DestrictoEnse Posted Sep 30th 2009 7:34PM]

Sweet! Now when I find a book I'm interested in I can just pirate the ebook using Borders' wifi... thanks a lot Borders!

[Zhurrie Posted Sep 30th 2009 7:52PM]

About f'kin time! I have to sit at the window seat so I can pick up Panera Bread's signal because they never had their stuff together. First they wanted to charge outrageous rates for T-Mobile years ago, then they've just had nothing for even longer. About time they woke up.

[NameIsDavid Posted Sep 30th 2009 7:56PM]

"note: you literally have to dance upon entering"

This misuses both the traditional meaning of the word "literally" as well as the increasingly accepted use of the word to mean its opposite, for emphasis (as in, "My head literally exploded when I ate that chili."). It's simply a completely made-up scenario, done for no good reason (since it's not even funny).

[Zangetsu Posted Sep 30th 2009 8:06PM]

Although the misuse of "literally" is a pet peeve of mine, I think the writer was using the word correctly and making a joke.

[projectdecember Posted Sep 30th 2009 8:05PM]

I said it once and I'm ganna say it again.

Dipshit

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 30th 2009 8:10PM]

@sacapuntas: It seems to me that you were just trying to find an excuse to start a health care discussion, well this is nowhere near the right place to do so. So show yourself out grab a sign and dance naked on the street that'll get you noticed and incarcerated.

[blustrkr Posted Sep 30th 2009 8:39PM]

Well she's in her own little world..

[GEN3RIC Posted Sep 30th 2009 8:55PM]

Include a pic of a mildly attractive female and it completely ruined the chance of a decent discussion.

[MightySandwich Posted Sep 30th 2009 9:08PM]

Wow, you can even "download music to your MP3"!

[virxes Posted Oct 1st 2009 4:07PM]

Damn, you beat me to it! I was just going to ask how you "download to your MP3". Borders = FAIL

[Aaron MartinColby Posted Sep 30th 2009 10:36PM]

I just tried the wifi at my local Borders. It's got a sign-in portal page that actually opens up a small application called "WLAN sign-in" and that's what keeps you signed in.

If you're using a cell phone, like I was (S60 Webkit), that app runs in the background and keeps the wifi alive after you've shut down the browser. Talk about shitty. Just give me wifi. No portal pages. Just an open connection to which I connect.

[Dshark Posted Oct 1st 2009 12:05AM]

FINALLY!

[raaaaaa Posted Oct 1st 2009 12:15AM]

I am not falling for that again, back when you said B&N had free wifi I show up and NADA!

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 1st 2009 10:36AM]

Is it really chauvinist to comment on the looks of someone about whom the only thing with which we are familiar is her looks?

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 1st 2009 2:55PM]

no skinny jeans please unless your a girl

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 6th 2009 4:12AM]

@Please Forgive Me @ Sep 30th 2009 8:38PM can you SHUT THE F*CK UP!

[HardTimesGuy Posted Oct 2nd 2009 12:19AM]

Finally a place to go make those skype calls