Sazzle

What are these places like over there, generally. I assume, perhaps incorrectly, that they mainly serve backpackers.

An outpouring of thoughts would be appreciated

Luke I Amyofath

I can only speak for Auckland since thats the only place I have been in nz.
There are absolutely hundreds of internet cafes around and they are cheap as chips (dont pay more tham $3nz an hr).
Backpackers may use them, but mostly it seemed to me to be asians playing video games and having video/voice chats.
Backpackers who stay in hostels usually use the in house internet areas but I did notice that the backpackers places I stayed in you could only access email and no instant mesengers (msn yahoo etc)
One more thing...... Make sure you get a decent keyboard because some have the letters worn down or worse, the keyboards are multi language so its harder to see the english letters !!!

Sazzle

We have seen home pages of some of them.

Those that have pictures show a fairly seedy environment.

Would that be a fair assessment?

Ailsa

We visited NZ 2 years ago, about a 4 week trip. We travelled from Auckland south and west via New Plymouth and Wanganui then down to Wellington, crossed Straits to Picton and did west coast again to Hokatiki, crossed over to Christchurch to end visit. We generally stayed 2-4 nights in a self catering unit.

We used either intenet cafes or LIBRARIES. We were there all through January but had no problems with backpackers or tourist ( hey! we were the tourists)

We thought the internet cafes were good value and had no problems, except sometimes they did not permit downloading stuff from net or charged extra to have it virus checked. Since the connections seemed fairly slow in some cases we didn't bother with extras; we only wanted to check on emails and post to some of our forums, nothing complex.

The libraries were the the best value and in the Christchurch area (a week there) we even got a card which could be used in any of the city libraries (bit like a phone card)

Generally I think I agree that messenger services were not available, but I think you could access 'private' chatrooms; eg if you belong to a Yahoo site and meet on its own chat.

The other option we had was getting online at home of 2 new friends en-route. We had 'met' over the internet through shared interests and had arranged to meet in 'Real Life' in Wellington and Christchurch. This could be chancy on either side but we had been in contact for well over a year previously.

Hope this helps

this is my first post in this Forum

Pollster

And a very informative one, Ailsa!

Welcome to the madhouse!

Luke I Amyofath

seedy environment ? nah, no worse than uk internet cafes at 3 quid an hr ! OK, so you dont get served italian coffees as you surf but is that seedy ?

Happy nz surfing


btw, I took a 750ml water bottle with wine in it to one cafe in auckland and even told the guy running the place. he said "go for it mate" !!!!

Sazzle

Well, you should have seen the home pages that we saw yesterday for these places....... seedy is a good word

Don

Dunedin - plenty of choice, mainly @ NZD4 an hour but you get about 25% off for 'bulk buying' and there are offers such as NZD for 8pm-1.00am (NZD2 an hour).

The other place - loads in Cairns, cheap as AUD1 an hour when I was there a couple of years ago.

Sazzle

OK, so maybe I am naive, how can they make any kind of living/profit if they only charge $3 an hour?

Luke I Amyofath

I cant answer that one except to say that the ones I were in had about 30 computers and did also sell soft drinks. Perhaps they make money on printing and cd copy service as well.

One recent thing I read thats on the negative side is that a growing number of parents have been using some of the 24hr internet cafes as babysitters by droping their kids off at internet cafes on their way out to a nightclub. I guess those would be the "seedy" places.

Seroiusly though Im assuming you intend to visit NZ so I would have thought that sightseeing would be what you would be doing and not surfing the net !!!!

Ailsa

True enough - but you need to come into forums like this and tell all your mates what a great time you are having

OH yeah - and not forgetting the totally unseasonable weather we had 2 yrs ago in NZ thanks to the Sydney bush fires - sightseeing wasn't always a cheerful option

Sazzle

My interest is not as someone who intends to sightsee and use cafes, We are thinking of setting one up, maybe, but we are looking for pearls of wisdom that will make it a positive experience.

Gerryr

YOu 're right to suggest that these places cater mostly to backpackers, but that does ont make them seedy or undesirable. They do not offer sartorial elegance, but one assumes that your attention will be directed to the screen, so you probably don't want to pay extra for elegant surroundings. A slightly more upmarket chain called Internet Outpost operates in major centres

Generally speaking, I think of most of these places as internet shops rather than cafes, as relatively few offer food & drink beyond snacks. By far the most important feature of the operation has to be the speed of connection, esp if you are paying by the minute.

How do they make money at $3 per hour? They pay their staff peanuts (so don't necessarily expect much guidance) they buy slightly dated machines amd keep them running for as long as possible. But if all you are looking for is email to keep in touch while you are travelling, that is all you need.

Gerry

Sazzle

hmmm...
my inference wasnt that they have a certain clientelle ipso facto "seedy".

As said previously, the images of the ones we have seen on the net show a seedy environment. (personal view of the word seedy)

I know that the main purpose of using these places is to concentrate on the monitor but.....

Put it this way, It could be said the main purpose of a pub is to serve beer. But a warm and freindly environment is , by us, expected. Not merely bare walls and sawdust with a spitoon in one corner.



anyway, now that this is back at the top, any other comments?

JaneandJim

If you want to plug a laptop into an internet cafe in Brisbane, make sure you're a man! I was turned away from 2 places where Jim had previously been and he had no problems whatsoever.

Jane