SEATTLE - Everyday, Steve Costie drives from the University District to Ballard to experience what Cafe Fiore does not have.
"It's a quiet place where I don't have to turn my laptop on. I don't need to be connected," said Costie.
No laptop plug-ins here. This Cafe Fiore location has intentionally decided not to offer WiFi and they say business is better than ever.
"There's more talking. There's more community. It's a little slower. People are more connected, I guess, not in the internet sense of the word," says Coralie Hews of Cafe Fiore.
A growing number of shops in Seattle and the nation are forgoing WiFi or cutting it off on the weekends.
"I can see you. I can see your expressions and I can hear you and every new technology kind of takes you one step away from that," says Jason Simon, the founder of the website caffeinatedconversations.com. Simon is not opposed to technology or the use of WiFi in coffee shops, but he believes for some places, people slumped over a computer takes away from the dialogue.
"I'm always thinking that there's somebody over there (one one side of the room) on Facebook talking to someone over there (on the other side of the room)," laughs Victrola Coffee Shop manager Jeremy McDermott.
One of the issues for shops is some customers who want to use WiFi will take up an entire table for hours.
Victrola was the first shop in Seattle to cut WiFi. In the last 5 years, they've brought back and taken away WiFi three times. It's now back.
"It was more for making sure that our customers have a place to sit down and enjoy it. And kind of where it's gone for me is to not be so presumptuous as to think like we know what every customer wants," said McDermott.
Most customers we spoke with were in favor of shops offering WiFi.
"It makes a huge difference in where I decide to get coffee," says Kelsey Gibson.
"I'm getting all of my finances in order and I don't know if I have enough money for internet or not," said Doug Connelly. He recently moved to Seattle from North Carolina and uses free WiFi to check emails and connect.
What works for one shop may not work for another. Seattle Coffee Works near Pike Place Market recently made more space to accomodate WiFi users.
Costie hopes this "WiFi free" idea does indeed become a trend.
"We're always connected anyways, so I think it's nice not to be on the internet all the time," said Costie.
Other shops like Zoka's and Vivace Espresso have recently limited the amount of time customers can use their free WiFi.
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