They can, but then that sucks for cafe customers that just want a latte, and don't want to "co-work." It's a problem where a few people are ruining something for the majority. I guess you could do some kind of "first 60 minutes included with purchase of drink" or something, but it all just seems so complicated.

Atlas cafe in San Francisco printed out WiFi logins good for 90 minutes.

Perfect.

If people will bring multiple laptop batteries, they’ll bring unlimited tethering hotspots.

So after 90 minutes the co-working crowd switch over to personal hotspots?

Yeah the issue is getting staff to police that. Staff simply do not care and do not want to ask people to leave, risking an angry refusal.

And for good reason. It puts someone in the position of confrontation with an unhinged person, social media shaming, or accusations of discrimination.

Charging by the month, like Costco, is likely to be a much better strategy. Network effects and all that.