Free Wi-Fi: They’re Lovin’ It

By Digital Trends Staff October 8, 2007

Free Wi-Fi: They're Lovin' It Ah, they’re lovin’ it. McDonald’s has announced that it’s going to offer free Wi-Fi in all 1,200 of its UK outlets by the end of2007. So, along with your Quarter Pounder and fries, you can flip open the laptop and surf; in fact, the company claims, you won’t even need to make a purchase (although, of course, theyhope you will). It’s part of a strategy by the chain to move McDonald’s into a more upmarket position similar to Starbucks, which has a Wi-Fideal with T-Mobile at its stores.

McDonald’s has been working on its image recently, putting in designer furniture and a more muted color scheme,but this leap seems calculated to draw a more adult, business-oriented crowd, especially as Wi-Fi access generally runs around $10 an hour.

“We hope that this will give greater choicefor Wi-Fi hotspot users who have had little choice but to pay by the month or hour to access the internet on the move,” Steve Easterbrook, president and chief executive at McDonald’s, told vnunet.com.

McDonald’s has around 15,000 Wi-Fi equipped restaurants around the world. Britain currently has about 12,000 Wi-Fi hotspots, so theMcDonald’s addition will greatly up the total.

Where the company currently has Wi-Fi, that’s provided by BT Openzone, but it’sunderstood that The Cloud will handle much of this big new roll out.

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