Internet Cafes

dbnavan

Hi all

I know this maybe construde as being more suited to the business forum however the type of answers I want is more for computing people:)

I have a potential opertunity to invest in and run an internet cafe and call shop, but are they a dying breed now that the net is so cheap and is everywhere(wireless), however my idea is promote night course, and gaming nights.

db

aidan_walsh

If you want answers, you'll have to supply your own questions... I can't be arsed looking for them for you.

dazftw

No I dont think there are! Well the only people you would expect to find in one would be foreign people or people whos pcs are broke :rolleyes:

Happened me awhile ago so I was in one alot!

Also while I was on holiday I used one alot too

Gaming would prob be a good way too go for lans and stuf! You can run like all night ones which are good!

dbnavan

aidan_walsh wrote:

If you want answers, you'll have to supply your own questions... I can't be arsed looking for them for you.

dbnavan wrote:

are they a dying breed

:rolleyes:

ntlbell

location location location

aidan_walsh

dbnavan wrote:

:rolleyes:

Ah, misread that.

Not a dying breed at all, and they haven't changed much since they first opened as far as I can see. You'll always have someone who has need of a connection.

liamo

dbnavan wrote:

Hi all
I have a potential opertunity to invest in and run an internet cafe and call shop, but are they a dying breed now that the net is so cheap and is everywhere(wireless), however my idea is promote night course, and gaming nights.
db

I've been in a number of Internet cafes in Ireland and, in most cases, I found them overpriced, dirty, unpleasant places. There were, however, a few notable exceptions.

This is in stark contrast to my experience in Rome last year when I needed Internet access. It was an enormous place with a few hundred screens. There was hot and cold food, hot and cold drinks, music, arcade games. It was bright, clean and pleasant. I can't remember the actual cost but I do remember thinking that it was great value. I paid for your Internet access by paying at a machine for the amount of time I wanted. The machine printed a ticket with a number that I entered onto a free terminal. Apart from reducing costs this also means that, when transacting, you can complete your business without having to deal with a real person. This, based on the many sub-humans I've encountered in the service industry today, is a distinct advantage as far as I'm concerned.

Just my 2c.

Regards,

Liam

majiktripp

I think the main use on internet cafes now is for the foreign contingent in Ireland who might use skype or Gadu ( I think thats the Polish one) to call home on the cheap,as you now see that most cafes also offer low price international calls through VOIP.I imagine this is their main draw for customers along with the usual need by the locals for Internet use aswell...I think there will always be a business for the internet cafe...just cant see anyone becoming Bill Gates rich off it....

monkey tennis

A question mark might have been handy on that question...

aidan_walsh wrote:

Not a dying breed at all, and they haven't changed much since they first opened as far as I can see

I would very much disagree (and I've been involved in internet cafés since the turn of the century...)

Back in the day, you could charge £6 an hour and noone would bat an eyelid. You could open a cafe in the city center, knowing that there were only a couple of others within a half-mile radius for competition. Gaming nights were big business, as home broadband didn't exist, and people would come in just to download shareware and use a CD burner.

These days, every village in Dublin has at least a couple of internet cafés. As the competition gradually heated up, they've had to lower prices, turning most of them into grotty little holes where people are crammed together like cattle and the staff don't speak English (nor do they necessarily know the first thing about computers). This is the only way for a newcomer to the market to break even, never mind make a profit: spend as little as possible and cram as many people in as possible. People will gasp in shock at being asked to pay €3 an hour now (even for 21" glass-coated LCD monitors, leather chairs, an 8Mb line with 4Mb backup, and 3GHz PCs - hey, you gets what you pays for, I'd rather not sit on a wooden stool packed in 1.5 inches away from each other on 1998's best technology watching my email slowly drip through a 512kb ADSL line shared between 20 computers).

I live in Rathmines, and I've seen more internet cafés open and shut down in that village than any other type of shop - this is how hard it is to keep afloat in that industry these days. Unless you a) really know what you're doing (business- and tech-wise) and/or b) are thinking of opening somewhere completely devoid of internet access, it's a big risk. The market is fairly saturated in most cities. Call shops are decent earners now, but it's only a matter of time before competition there gets nasty as well, and it's hard to make enough off phones alone to pay the rent.

theTinker

Ive only seen internet cafes in the last 2 years being used by foriegn people who dont have a computer at home(because they rent or watever) or by people who just happen to live right beside a cafe.
They are horribly dirty looking from the outside. I cant see why people would use one anymore.
The prices for the internet at my nearest one is 1€ for 30 mins, 2€ for 60mins. I cant see how there could be any decent or sure profit in that.
Theres rarely even more than one person in it. Constant powering the pcs, the broadband, the guy at the desk, building costs, etc. I'd rather invest in a lotto ticket.

Mad Finn

liamo wrote:

I've been in a number of Internet cafes in Ireland and, in most cases, I found them overpriced, dirty, unpleasant places. There were, however, a few notable exceptions.

This is in stark contrast to my experience in Rome last year when I needed Internet access. It was an enormous place with a few hundred screens. There was hot and cold food, hot and cold drinks, music, arcade games. It was bright, clean and pleasant. I can't remember the actual cost but I do remember thinking that it was great value.

That's curious. I was just going to advise our budding entrepreneur to open an Internet cafe in Milan, because when I was there a couple of weeks ago I had awful problems finding and then getting to use an Internet point.

The only public Internet point in Linate airport is in the departure lounge. ie, you can pick up your mail if you're going but not if you're coming. Weird. Then there is a great shortage of Inernet points in Milan itself. There only seems to be about two or three in the city, that anybody knows about.

Despite all that though, Italy ROCKS!!!