cybercafé

Coffeehouse equipped with public-access Internet terminals. Typically, users pay a small sum to use the terminals for short periods. Cafés usually supply brief tutorials for newcomers.

There were estimated to be more than 200,000 cybercafés in more than 148 countries by the end of 2004. In developing countries, because of the high cost of purchasing a computer and the poor quality of domestic telephone lines, cybercafés are often the only way that people can get access to the Internet.