802 Online

What I like about hopping online at Bunns & Noodle:
• It's the cheapest non-free wi-fi in town — $3.95 for a two-hour connection through SBC/Freedomlink that's fast and user-friendly.
• It opens at 8 am, even on Sunday.
• Cool gas fireplace at one end of the cafe.

What I loathe about hopping online at Bunns & Noodle:
• No power outlets.
• Little plastic advertising stands on every table.
• Creepy paintings of writers above the counter, most of whom would probably never have sat down to write in this mostly sterile corporate environment, and would undoubtedly be mortified that their images were being used to sell coffee and books here. They id writers by last name only: like Joyce, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, and "Parker." Dorothy Parker is presumably thrown in for gender balance, although you can just see people saying, "Parker who?"
• Their "food" is all trucked in from out-of-state and rehydrated or heated in an oven prior to serving.
• By sitting here, I'm supporting 2 large corporations (B&N and Starbucks, where they get their coffee) instead of a good local coffeeshop. Of course, if any of our local coffeeshops opened early on Sundays and offered wi-fi, I'd be there instead.

I'd like to give you more information about the wi-fi connection here: how long they've had it (I think about 3 or 4 months), if people are using it, any problems they've had with it, why they finally got it after not having it for years, etc. But I can't. Why can't I? Because no one here will answer my questions. The manager on duty referred me to some PR person in NYC.

So if you have any more questions about the wi-fi connection at B&N in South Burlington, please call Mary Ellen Keating, at 212.633.3323. Not sure if she's ever actually been here, but apparently she's the expert on South Burlington's only wi-fi hotspot. Or at least, she's been approved by the corporate masters at B&N to talk about it.

Please, please, someone open a coffeeshop with wi-fi in Winooski.