turn off wi-fi?

One of my baristas, Eric, pointed this article out to me from 'wifinetnews.com.'
"Coffeeshop Turns off Wi-Fi on Weekends"

"Victrola Cafe and Art in Seattle is a popular coffeeshop that offers free Wi-Fi--except on the weekends. In an experiment, the cafe started shutting down its Wi-Fi network on Saturdays and Sundays after watching their culture erode: the shop became full (and was turning away customers) with six-to-eight hour Wi-Fi squatters, many of whom didn't even purchase anything. Their second Sunday without Wi-Fi was one of their best revenue days in some time. I don't propose a Wi-Fi (or free Wi-Fi) backlash, but it's interesting how with some time under their belt, the clash of inward facing technology and outward facing culture hit these particular entrepreneurs' limit."

I think that free wi-fi is great... I was one of the first to implement free wi-fi in our area. I'd have to say that in one of my shops, the laptop-user to people-sitting-talking ratio has worked out great. At my other shop though, not so much. A sea of Dells, Powerbooks, and ThinkPads. It's really quite eerie how when there's a break between songs on the stereo, there's usually complete silence.

What happened to people sitting, talking over a cup of coffee?

It's a tough conundrum to face. Don't want to play 'Wi-Fi Cop,' but something really needs to change. Some of the folks who left comments on the linked blog entry had some interesting ideas.

I dunno... do y'all have any thoughts on the subject? Victrolans? How has 'Wi-Fi-less Weekends" worked out?