McDonald's to offer free wireless - do you want fries with that?

Sidney Vianna · Dec 20, 2009

McDonald's Corp. said it would offer free wireless Internet access at most of its U.S. fast-food restaurants as it tries to broaden its appeal.

The company has offered Internet access for about five years. In mid-January, it will lift the $2.95 fee it has charged for two hours of Internet access at 11,000 of its 14,000 U.S. locations. There will be no time limit after the fee is lifted.

"We don't mind at all if people step in, take advantage of the Wi-Fi and linger a bit," said Dave Grooms, chief information officer for McDonald's USA.

McDonald's is providing the wireless service through a partnership with AT&T Inc. The company declined to disclose the terms of the contract or how much it would spend on the change.

Stijloor · Dec 20, 2009

Sidney Vianna said:
From LA Times:

McWireless....

Stijloor.

Sidney Vianna · Dec 20, 2009

gives a whole new meaning to your Mac address.... :tg:

arios · Dec 20, 2009

For some folks like me it would just not help to get rid of the extra pounds...food and free internet access to be sitting there for a while may not be a good combination.

Big Jim · Dec 21, 2009

arios said:
For some folks like me it would just not help to get rid of the extra pounds...food and free internet access to be sitting there for a while may not be a good combination.

It seems to work in Brittan. On my vacation this year the McDonalds in London across from Pancras Station (the London terminal for Eurostar where one boards to go through the Chunnel to France and on to Paris).

We had trouble with the hotel internet connection and went to the McDonalds a block or two away.

It will be interesting to watch how it plays out in the US.

Colin · Dec 21, 2009

Amazingly the UK has been offering this free for some time now. In contrast, most hotels over here charge quite a lot for Wi-Fi access - typically £5/hour at some hotels. I had a pop at one of them recently saying it was poor service to charge around £100/night for a room and £5/hour for Wi-Fi (which was slow as well) when I could go to McD, pay £1 for a drink and get free Wi-Fi. I got a 'nil' response there :tg:

harry · Dec 21, 2009

Same with us for McD. Even Starbucks offer it so does our local coffee chain-stores and the Indian Muslim run 24 hours restaurants.

BradM · Dec 21, 2009

Interesting notion. One thing, though, is now they seem to have conflicting strategies. McDonald's is a fast-food place; get in and get out. Heck, I don't know if they do it intentionally, but their chairs and such are not that comfortable. I could not imagine sitting there for an hour.

A good point by Arios about putting on the extra pounds. :agree1:

I bet sales of their apple pies and other dessert-type foods will more than offset the costs of providing the wireless routers for free. It probably just represents profit to them, as most of the stores already have the routers in place.

somerqc · Dec 21, 2009

In response to the uncomfortable seats, we have 2 new McD's near my house up here in Toronto.

BOTH have areas with comfortable couches, flat screen TV's (set to a news channel of course) and offer more than just standard coffee. They also have sections like the typical McD's with the rock hard plastic chairs.

I guess that was in prep for this stuff. Although, I haven't heard anything about free Wi-Fi at McD's. Regardless, there are many other areas that do (Starbucks's, Second Cup, Tim Horton's, and many other restaurants as well).

Bill Pflanz · Dec 21, 2009

You see lots of people using free wireless at Panera Bread. The food and coffee is good and the atmosphere is not bad for lingering.

I was in New York City this spring and passed on the hotel WiFi. It was about $14 per day. While in Los Cabos Mexico, WiFi was available for free near the lobby and pool area and they had plans to make it totally free for the entire resort. What is amazing is how many people (especially the over-50 crowd) were using it while on vacation.

Bill Pflanz

McDonald's to offer free wireless - do you want fries with that?

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