How Much!!? (Revelations The Internet Cafe)

Member Name: Belfastgirl

Product:	Revelations The Internet Cafe
Date:	19/08/01 (209 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Provides a wide range of services

Disadvantages: Expensive, Some staff, Worn Keyboards

Cough splutter cough... that's all I could do the last time that I went into Revelations Internet Cafe in Belfast.

Recently, I have been away from home due to being placed in the back end of nowhere for my final nursing placements, which has no Internet access, so in order to log on I have had to go right into Belfast to do so, and as the university's library times are a bit up the left over the holiday period, I have resorted to using Revelations Internet cafe.

It was with a little fear and trepidation that I entered Revelations, but Internet addiction will make you go to extreme lengths to get online, so I was prepared to pay the £1.00 (student rate) for 15 minutes.

To me this is an extortionate amount of money, but perhaps others will not agree with me.

Revelations is in the University area of Belfast, just down Shaftsbury Square ( address :- 27 Shaftsbury Square Belfast BT2 7DB. Tel:02890 320337). If any of you watch Patrick Kielty's show, he usually does outside broadcasts from just outside Revelations Cafe.

As I entered I was greeted by a cloud of smoke, and a man who grunted at me as I enquired about using a computer for a period of time. He waved me towards an empty seat, made another grunt, and I assumed that this computer was free.

The cloud of smoke lingered (apologies to those reading this who are smokers, but I just can’t stand smoking, especially in an area where food is being sold), as I sat at one of the 12 terminals in the cafe. Now I am used to typing on a keyboard and so pretty much know where each letter is on the keyboard, but the ones in Revelations were quite worn, meaning that someone who was not as familiar with the keyboard may have had a hard time of figuring it out. I was quite annoyed at this, after all, 15 minutes for £1, can they not afford to buy new keyboards every so often?

The signs around boasted that the net access was the fastest available,
and that their computers were fast, but I found that it was not as fast as my own computer, and that it took a while for pages to upload. This may have been because the cafe was particularly full that night, or just that their connection isn't quite as fast as they like to boast.

I got all my work done in the 15 minutes ( I literally flew through it!) and got up to pay - thankfully the "grunting" man had left and instead there was a pleasant lady who chatted to me as I paid, leaving me feeling that the place was not quite so bad after all.

They mainly sell snacks in Revelations, with their bottomless cups of tea and coffee being very popular, but sandwiches are also available.

Their opening times are:

Mon - Fri 8am - 10pm
Sat 10am - 6pm
Sun 11am - 7pm

Revelations also offer other services along with their web access, Our services include:
"Internet tuition, Office software access, games access, food, soft drinks, coffee, scanning, laminating, colour prints, laser prints, fax services, live camera to allow you to email pics of yourself." (taken from their web site, www.revelations.co.uk)


I would go there again, but as I said, only if I couldn't get into the University - Why pay £1 for 15 minutes when you can get as long as you like for free just up the road?!

Summary: