Panera Bread Review

Contributed by Tim Williston

June 17, 2005

Hotspot Vitals:
SSID: PANERA
Free Spot: Yes
Network Type: G
Power: Yes
Speed Test dn/up (kbps): 1236/309
Location: 41st between Yale and Sheridan
Website: www.panerabread.com

This afternoon, I ventured over to Panera Bread at 41st and Hudson to try out their wifi service. I was there during pretty busy hours, so the speed test may be a little slow. And, as usual at Panera, there were several people working or playin' on their laptops.

This Panera is similar to the other stores that I've visited. There are plenty of tables available, but I was surprised to find so few electrical outlets in the store. At the 71st and Lewis store, there are outlets everywhere! Not so here... but I was able to find one for my power hungry Dell.

After booting up, I was quickly able to connect to their network. They use Nomadix for their connection manager, but I've never had a problem yet. When you open your browser, you just have to click "connect". Also, you don't have to give them any personal info, which is nice.

After connecting, I ran a speed test, which was decent for the time of day. A reverse DNS showed that they have a DSL connection to SBC. When I connected, I only received a "Very Good" connection, but at 54.0 Mbps. My remote desktop session did slow to a crawl at one point, but not to the point where I couldn't work.

Overall, this Panera Bread is similar to others with their wifi service. I'm sure that they all have the same type of connection and similar hardware anyway. My only complaint was the shortage of outlets to plug into, but most people work "unplugged" anyway!