Cyber-Cafe Chain Eases E-mail Access for Travelers in Europe, U.S.

It began a year and a half ago as a tiny, eight-seat shop in London. Today it boasts 2,300 computers in that city alone. Last September, 1.25 million people went online at its shops all over Europe. And in November, its New York City store opened with 800 PCs.

It’s EasyEverything, which has appeared from virtually nowhere to become one of the cheapest and most easily identifiable purveyors of touristic computer access.

Until now, on-the-road Internet access has been a cottage industry, with many privately owned storefront cafes holding no more than a dozen computers each. No longer. With its fluorescent orange awnings and cavernous PC halls, Easy-Everything has quickly fashioned itself into the 800-pound gorilla of e-mail. As it becomes ubiquitous in Europe, budget-minded tourists might come to rely on those orange awnings as much as they respond to the Golden Arches.

Propelled by funding from Britain’s EasyJet airline, EasyEverything’s pricing reflects the freedom of the parent company’s deep pockets. Although its tariffs vary according to availability and demand, the main unit of pricing is standardized: In America, it’s $1; in England, 1 pound; in Paris, 10 francs, and so on. During off-peak morning, late evening and nighttime hours, that $1 can get you one to six hours’ access. At peak midafternoon-to-evening hours, it will get you 15 minutes to an hour.

If you haven’t been introduced to the joys of Internet access abroad, it’s time you were. E-mail has solidly defeated long-distance telephone calls as the preferred way to stay in touch without breaking the bank. Visiting an EasyEverything at off-peak hours can slash your communications costs: If you’re in Paris and pop in after breakfast before your day’s touring, you can easily jot messages to the crew back home and still have money to buy them souvenirs.

The stores are conveniently located. In New York, EasyEverything is in Times Square, and the company is looking at a second space in Union Square. In London there are five stores, all in well-trafficked tourist areas. In Paris, EasyEverything is close to the Pompidou Center.

Each location is listed--along with a map, nearby transit lines, hours of operation and base price--at the company’s Web site, https://www.EasyEverything.com.

So far, there are EasyEverythings in more than a dozen European cities, and the company is bullish: 40 more locations are envisioned by the end of the year, many in the United States.