What is an internet Cafe?

[hpkeeper]

I"ve heard of them, but not actually ever seen one, at least to my knowledge. I've seen like "Yahoo! Chat" and I've been onto forums such as ATOT, but do either of those qualify as an internet cafe? if it does, then my question is answered, if not, then what is an internet cafe? what is so different about them than Yahoo chat or ATOT? do they cost money? and does anyone have a link to an internet cafe that I could take a look at one?

Just curious

~ThE KeEp~

 

[amnesiac]

It's a coffee shop that has terminals where you can browse the web. Hence, "internet cafe"
Typically it's like $2 for 10 minutes or some such.

 

[spanky]

net cafe around here costs $3/hour

 

[BlueApple]

They are, as said earlier, not a Website or a place on the Internet, but a physical location for one to access the inter net. Try looking in your local Yellow Pages for ?Internet, Café? or calling your local Visitors Information/Chamber of Commerce assistance desk.

[*] They are very much like coffee shops or cafes, as they are a business to serve the public

[*] MOST are staffed by young, college-aged people

[*] They can be very large (been to some in London and NYC with 500+ computers) or small (there was one with 2 in Chester, England).

[*] You either buy the time in advance or you pay after you use them.

[*] They are also very prevalent in places you wouldn?t expect. In some third-world countries (such as many in Sub-Saharan Africa) are loaded with internet cafes due to it can be the best means of communication and for use by their growing numbers of international visitors.

[*] MOST places will give you full access to the computers

[*] MOST have limited word processing capabilities (some even have MS Office)

[*] MOST already have IRC, IE, Netscape, AOL, AIM, MSN, and ICQ pre-download for you to use.

[*] MOST people use them for emailing/internet

[*] MOST users are tourists

[*] MOST facilities have printing access (B&W only usually)

[*] SOME cafes that sponsor multi-player games at set times.

[*] MOST have limited food/drinks available (usually coffee, chips, cookies, sodas, bottled water).

[*] MOST cost between $5-$15(or USD equivalent) an hour

[*] SOME can have a ?waiting-line? (encountered this in Oxford) but once you get on, you can stay for as long as you?d like

[*] MOST have late operating hours (10PM or Midnight)

[*] SOME are open 24 hours (they will be in most large cities)

[*] SOME have speakers, headphones, microphones, or web cams for use (some free, some charge)

[*] A growing trend I?ve noticed is having LCD on the computers as to save space

[*] If you can?t find any cafes, look up a local Kinko?s. They have computers for use (albeit a bit pricey) and are always open 24/7

[*] I find the better ones are smaller, non-chains as they have nicer computer setups, and it is configured more like a real computer and not a kiosk (having no access to the start menu, having banner ads at the bottom of your screen), and a friendlier staff.

[*] They also can be know as cyber cafe(s) or as net cafe(s)

EDIT: Take a look at both this site and this site for related information.

 

[RossMAN]

When I was in Sydney, Australia last year I visited several CyberCafe's to check my e-mail, surf the web, find out about tourist info, etc. Since the US dollar was crushing the Aussie dollar it cost around USD $1.50 per hour. Some of the CyberCafe's cost a little more around $3/hr but they all had 15-17" LCDs, real mice, nice keyboards, etc. In downtown Sydney they were on EVERY STREET CORNER!

In Canberra (the capital of Australia) I could only find one CyberCafe although there must have been a few around.

CyberCafe.com is a good resource