Sunday, March 11, 2007

My Starbucks Jusco Bukit Raja Experience

I like to take pictures for the thing that I wanted to blog about. I think I should really consider having a camera phone. The reason is because I don't bring my digital camera all along with me. Plus when using camera phone, it doesn't look awkward to most people, don't you think? I am still using a 4 years old Nokia 3100 which only serve a basic purpose of SMS, MMS, WAP and making/receiving calls. It is time to upgrade, at least.

Yesterday I went to Shah Alam on a date with my lovely girlfriend. The mission was to spend as little as possible which I apparently failed to do so and to be connected online. After having lunch at my favourite Sup Ani Utara in Section 2 Shah Alam, bringing along my girlfriend's laptop, we went to Secret Recipe at SACC Mall where they have Wi-Fi Internet access under TMNet Hotspots. We also had some nice cheesecake and lattes. The only setback was the place has no plug to plug in the power chord so I had to cut my visit short because the battery could only last for one hour. I pulled up my new Public Bank Visa Electron card but the payment counter said can only accept card charges if you spend more than RM50. I think it ridiculous to turn down a cashless customer. Lucky I got RM20 in my wallet.

We then hunted for another Wi-Fi place in Shah Alam and the best and cheap place was at Butler at Petronas Section 7 which is next to Unisel Shah Alam. The only problem was, the place was packed with people mainly students and all the power sockets were occupied. Our last resort was to search for the nearest Starbucks and that is at Jusco Bukit Raja Klang.

After the Secret Recipe incident, this time I asked the Starbucks Barista whether they accept my PB Visa Electron. The guy answered to me that they accept whatever credit card with no minimum requirement of payment. That was a good thing to hear. So, I happily had a RM10 Signature Hot Chocolate and surfed the internet using the High Speed TimeZome Wi-Fi. My girlfriend was so happy she downloaded some YouTube videos and a lot of Hindustani Indian MP3s. This was actually my first time using my Public Bank Visa Electron. I'll use it again for my next visit to Starbucks ;-)

By the way, there is a Nando's restaurant just next to Starbucks at Jusco Bukit Raja. They are equipped with TM Net Hotpsot. Again, no power sockets so it is so ashame of Wi-Fi places not to have power sockets. I wonder how and where these Wi-Fis is transmitted since I can't see any sign of antennas unlike my home and office wireless router. Maybe our LadyAzurt could explain that on her blog. Any thoughts on that my lady? ;-D

3 comments:

ZeMMs said...

I used to follow ladyazurt when she had to do asset tagging last time in many hotspot-equipped restaurants all over Klang Valley. From my observation, many of them had their modems inside their office, while the antennas were always up on the ceiling (yes, away from anyone's view) somewhere near the counter area or sometimes above the seating area. But ladyazurt should have a more detailed answer... ;)

azurt said...

we call benda yang ada antenna tu = access point (AP). Dulu letak kat luar (eg. kaunter), tapi memandangkan kite install hotspot dikebanyakkan Food & Beverage (F&B) outlets, jadi kite letak la kat ceiling. Di samping selamat (else ada tikus yg mkn cabel), ia juga boleh mengelakkan equipment hotspot 'makan' ruang di kedai tu.

actually, what is your main concern utk tanye nape tak nampak antenna ek? ehhe.. just out of curiosity. ;)

Ashrufzz said...

Thanks ZeMMs and Azurt for your input. The reason I asked is because I wanted to connect to the internet from places other than the area that is assigned. This way, I can estimate the range of my position and thus saving some money doing that. After all, I am a bootstrapper..haha :-D