New Internet Cafe in Taipei

Life Technology
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Do you frequent the local Internet Cafes arount the Taipei City Area? I’m pretty sure some of you out there do! Well, maybe not the ladies as much, but most of us pc gamers/night owls do. I moved to Taiwan 2 years ago from the states and thats when I started to frequent these Internet Cafes. I can only stand so much KTV if you know what I mean. Recently, an opportunity knocked at my door for me to open up my own Internet Cafe in Taipei. I would like to get some advice or suggestions from anyone in Taipei about whether this concept for an Internet cafe, especially catering to the “Native” english speaking community, would be a pretty cool idea. Any kind of feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

T311

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What part of town will it be? Near an MRT station?

Can it be on or above ground level – where there is some natural light?

Can you have an enclosed smoking area – so the rest of us can surf/play/work without hacking?

Free printing? OK, that’s asking a lot. But network printing (one color inkjet, one b&w laser) at a low per page cost would be nice.

Wireless networking for those of us who bring our own PCs but want the fast access and the network printing. You don’t have to provie the PC cards – BYOPCMCIA

It wouldn’t be practical to have English Windows on your machines, but at least one staff person who speaks “ok” English would be cool.

If any, keep the music low. No words, no ICRT.

Have headphones for all the PCs so that the noise level is comewhat controllable.

Are these the suggestions and feedback you were looking for?

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quote:
Have headphones for all the PCs so that the noise level is comewhat controllable.

This is such a great idea. The old internet cafe that I used to go to beofre it inexplicably closed used to have no speakers, just headphones on every computer and it rocked. If you were CSing you could blast your persoanl sounds up high, while interneters could surf in peace.

Bri

4

Thanks for the feedback! The location is right on bu-shi-ban street by the Taipei Main Train Station. It is located on the 4th floor. Im trying to make it an American Style Internet cafe.

I have over 80 pings of smoke free environment. Well actually my whole store is non-smoking. There is a smoking section on the balcony outside though.

Free Printing? Sure, I can offer free printing on a few copies, but you know how expensive ink cartridges (especially color) can be. I have printing, scanning, copying, and faxing services available.

I’m one step ahead of you Barista Boy! I have INtel wireless access point, enabling up to 30 wireless notebooks to access the internet at hi speeds simultaneously.

I wanted to install english windows, but it proved that it wouldnt be economical. Do you think a small section of my computers with english windows would be a good idea? I will be at the store most of the time, so there will always be a fluent english speaker there. I am currently teaching my lovely staff english as they teach me chinese.

Music?Hmmm… So far I have been letting my staff play whatever they want and also letting customers play their own cds. I also have a 34" Sony Cable TV with wireless output for the sound.

Of course headphones is a must! I have headphones for all 71 of my computers. Even a P4 1.7 Ghz computer section for serious gamers also.

For all you coffee lovers, We have gourmet coffee freshly grounded from coffee beans, packaged from Starbucks, for half the Starbucks price.

Any other suggestions or tips on what you would like to see in a Internet cafe? Any special services? Should I offer alcoholic beverages?

Im looking for some real techies to teach some classes here also. For example, web design, flash, dreamweaver, photoshop, and etc. Would this be a good service to provide for an Internet cafe?

Is there anything I have missed? Im trying to get all english speaking internet cafe goers to put in their two cents because I want to provide and offer the best services possible!

Thanks for your feedback,

T311

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Your place is sounding too good to be true I’ll tell friends about it and check it out sometime

What is the name of the place and what are your hours?

Cheers!

6

Sup Barista Boy!

The name of the store is called “The American Pie e-Cafe.” No, I didn’t name the store after that movie either. Its got another special meaning to it, have you ever heard that song by Don Mclean?

Normal Business Hours are from 8AM~11PM everyday.

If enough people wants to play past 11PM, I will make an exception*.

*Telephone Reservations are required.
*Members Only

C-ya There!

T311

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How much are you charging by minute (or hour) for regular surfing?

Bri

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Hi T311,

How much do you charge if we bring out own notebooks and connect to the Net via your Wireless Access Points?

Folks,

I’m looking for Cafes that allow you to connect to the Internet for free. So far, I know of two:

  1. One off Shihta Road called Lover Cafe (but there’s no signage in English). Here is their website with a map: lover.delcaffe.org – really near Taipower Building MRT

  2. Another is a coffee shop in a basement mall at Kuang Hua San Chang. This is the mall that is underneath TVBS – its actually on Pa Teh Road roughly midpoint between Chin Shan and Hsin Sheng (not far from Chunghsiao Hsinsheng MRT)

Both of these locations allow you to use their networks for free, although buying food/drink is expected. The lover cafe might charge you an extra NT$10 for plugging your computer into the wall for AC.

Other wireless net locations that I know of charge you: the EZonline network includes Au Bon Pain and IS Coffee, and then therei s Barista Coffee. And I found nice coffeeshop called “mospeng” on the south end of SYS Memorial, on Jen Ai near the south east corner of Jen Ai / Kuang Fu. They charge you NT$ 60 / hour to ride their network.

What other cafes do NOT charge you (like the two I mentioned above?)?

I’m gonna need to log some serious time online this month, so I could really use some fast and FREE access for my notebook PC. The thought of doing it underground at Kuang Hwa isn’t a happy one. And the last time I was at the Lover cafe, my PC couldn’t see the network (tho it has in the past – it was a really frustrating evening)

Any ideas?

Help

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well there’s a lot of competition in this, but if you cater the foreign audience that’s a wonderful idea! Where would it be exactly? Location is very important … then make sure you have real coffee, not just video games or your place will still be the same, middle school kids, and which is illegal now. :unamused:

Western music/non-Britney/Backstreet would be ideal and western merchanidse locals/foreigners alike would crave for. How about IMAC? Not sure if that would work but they look nice and all Taiwan cafe are PC. Then you would need it look attractive, preferably slight dim, romantic feel to it on inside, Western decoration definetly and big, bright lights on the outside. Make sure the logo is intruiging too, some near offense English words wouldn’t be too bad, such as the brand name clothing FCUK sure is an eye-catcher. If possible make the interior a more mature, sophisticated feel to it with a comfortable, relax mood and add a lounge, conversation, meeting area to it. 8)

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Your place sounds great, but what’s this about reservations only? Do you not allow people to drop-in then? This doesn’t sound too cool.

How about the membership? Can you give some info. on the prices?

Thanks.

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Gus,

I’m thinking of getting the PowerBook with WiFi AirPort card, and I will want to “shang the wang” in many public places. Something like 60NT an hour is reasonable for me.

Can you give your breakdown of the places you know of that provide the service. I like the Au Bon Pain place. Do you mean that the one at Warner has access? I eat and study there a lot. How about Barista? How does it work? What does it cost?

Jeremy

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Hey dude, would you consider to open another one in Hsinchu where there are lots of foreigners too? I do go to Taipei once a month so I could use your facility for AIM (that’s basically what I do most of the time).

I really don’t like the typical or standard Internet Cafe in Taiwan, too much of everything - smoke, noise, music and not enough of everything else - lights, software and space.

Do you also have MS Office (English version) on some of the computers? I could read Chinese (somehow) but I don’t seem to grasp the computer verbiage in Chinese. I might regret saying this (if your place is as good as your describe) - I wouldn’t mind paying extra if you’ve got what I need in a smoke-free environment.

Roll on,

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The American Pie e-Cafe (Internet Cafe)

New Price Update:

Non-Members = $50NT per hour

Membership Fee = $100NT (Includes 2 Free Hours)

Members = $35NT per hour

New Login system installed. All our customers can save their unused time for use at a later date.

Bulk Hours discounts as low as $20NT per hour. The more hours you buy, the more you save.

Check out our live cam at www.tapcafe.com

Store Hours are 8AM - 11PM Daily.

Location - 8 Nang-yang street 4th Floor

14

Hello All,

Im currently looking for another location to set up another Internet cafe. Any help would be greatly appreciated. :smiley:

At least 70 to 100 Pings, and it has to be a highly trafficed place. We want to cater to the english speaking community of Taipei.

Thanks,

Tony

15

Went to American Pie completely by accident last week (i.e., didn’t know it was specifically the “foreigner-oriented” place discussed here). I thought it was very nice. Reasonable prices, nice environment, and a nice touch that you can log into ANY computer, instead of being assigned to a numbered station that always has some hyperexcited gaming child or binlang-cracking undesirable next to it.

I’d love for you to put one in sorta near Shida/Taida. There ought to be lots of foreigners in that area; only problem is that the rents are probably really really high.

16

Any news about opening another location? Aztec went out of business – may be you could fill their locationson the cheap

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Can anybody help me find this place? I went on a mission to find it twice now and never did. I already know the address.

Thanks

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Walk out of the Hilton Hotel’s entrance on Nan Yang Street exit and turn left (or walk out of it’s Chung Hsiao W Road exit and turn left, then left again at the corner). As you walk south, AsiaWorld will be on your right

When you get to the first intersection, walk to the caddy corner (the southwest corner of that crossing) but keep heading south.

Two or three doors down is one of those milk tea places – this is your landmark. The NEXT door is an entranceway. When you walk in, there is an elevator on your right. On your left are stairs – one going up, one going down.

Take the elevator to the 4th floor. THe elevator is kind of scummy, but persevere, the American Pie place is quite nice.

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Check out our Internet Speed test at dslreports.com.

Our line results were 1412kb/sec download and 1448kb/sec upload.
Comment = “Not too shabby shabby!”

Test your present line speed by going to their site and clicking on “our tools” located on the left hand side of their main page. Then click on line speed tests to check your line speed. You will see how your line speed compares with ours.

The American Pie e-Cafe
8 Nan - Yang Street 4F.
Taipei, Taiwan

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Limited time offer for Segue.com.tw members!
Offer expires on 2.28.2003

Free Membership Account plus one hour credit. (valued at 185NT) Plus member benefits.

Member Benefits:
*Entitles you to exclusive member pricings and specials.
*Members can log into any one of our computers without having to wait in line. (Assuming you still have credits in your account of course.)
*Only members can save their unused time for later usage by logging themselves out.
*Only members can call ahead of time (One Hour in advance) to reserve their favorite spot.
*Plus many more.

How to apply?

Send an email to tony@tapcafe.com and in the subject line please enter “Segue Member Special”

You will then recieve a email with exact details on how to get your free unique Member Account with one hour credit.

Wishing Segue team and members all a happy and prosperous 2003!

from all of us,

The American Pie e-Cafe

tapcafe.com

Serving the English Speaking Community Since 2001