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Free WiFi at 11,000 McDonalds beginning in January 2010
Starting mid-January 2010, McDonalds will be offering free wireless Internet access at 11,000 of its 14,000 fast-food joints. Whether it will be 'gated' via some kind of time code on your receipt, or really free remains to be seen.This opens a scarily interesting kettle of filet-o-fish: is this service going to be firewalled? Will usage be monitored? If the service is totally free -- as in, you can just walk in and boot up your netbook -- will McDonalds become the new Starbucks? (OK, this might be pushing it a little, but someone at McDonalds must've had a similar idea.)
What about piracy -- or worse, how about porn? Can you see teenagers fighting for those coveted corner seats, only to realize too late that the walls are glass and kiddies have been watching from outside, while innocently riding the sit-on Ronald McDonald?
Here in the UK we've just had our first case of a bar being fined for illegal activity that occurred on its public WiFi hotspot. You can't imagine McDonalds would allow similar abuse of its massive, nation-wide chain of WiFi access points... but we'll see!
[via Mashable]
Comments
15
Subscribe to commentsRichardDec 16th 2009 10:44AM
I don't frequent McDonalds but I would prefer something on your receipt which gives you 30 minutes of WiFi access from the point you purchased something.
Two reasons:
1. Let's be honest, you don't really need to spend more than 30 minutes in McDonalds.
2. It stops freeloaders buying one coffee in the morning and then sitting around all day abusing the WiFi leaving other customers without anywhere to sit.
Sebastian AnthonyDec 16th 2009 11:16AM
The classic 'turn the air conditioning up so it's too cold to linger' tactic will still be employed, I imagine :)
HardwareGuyDec 16th 2009 11:12AM
Starbucks don't have free wifi in my area. They all go to some AT&T screen asking me to pay $3.00 for 30 minutes or something like that.
Sebastian AnthonyDec 16th 2009 11:16AM
Oh, lame. I guess I've been lucky with the few that I've visited here in the UK!
MitchDec 16th 2009 4:05PM
Wow I always thought McD WiFi was free... I guess the only times I've accessed it were on my Zunes and on my laptop when I was in Australia which apparently has had free McD WiFi for awhile(Plus Triple Cheeseburgers!).
Sebastian AnthonyDec 16th 2009 6:42PM
Gawd... a triple cheeseburger? That sounds good.
Sadly I'm a Burger King guy myself -- the Double Whopper is a king amongst lesser burgers.
JackDec 16th 2009 5:27PM
McDonalds in Australia has just finished it's roleout of Free Wifi in most of the stores across Australia. This is their website http://www.maccasfreewifi.com/
You get 50megabytes of data each visit, so if you need more, just disconnect and reconnect again. I have used it so many times, it quick, reliable and fast. I don't think you are allowed to torrent though, but general web surfing, email, msn, all works good at ADSL2+ speeds.
They do block some ports, so I couldnt check my webhosting email eg :3021
But overall it is really good - I can now get the internet in public :)
Sebastian AnthonyDec 16th 2009 6:43PM
Ah, neat! Thanks for the tip.
In Australia of all places too. McDonalds... leading the push for fast, non-monopolized Internet in Australia!
Damn Telstra.
JackDec 16th 2009 10:48PM
No Problems Sebastian.
McDonalds used to provide paid wifi supplied by telstra, but that was really expensive - now with free wifi, when there is a choice between Maccas, KFC, Hungry Jacks, Red Rooster, it will always be maccas with my laptop.
Sebastian AnthonyDec 16th 2009 10:55PM
I imagine it's subsidised too, unless Internet access in Australia recently got magically cheaper :)
I hope you have one of those rubberised keyboard cover things for your laptop that they use on fast food tills...
JackDec 16th 2009 11:11PM
I have one, but don't use it. I try to eat the greasy food with one hand, then type with the other - or go to the bathroom before using my computer.
Off memory, I think it was like $5 for 15 minutes if you were a Telstra/Bigpond customer - but I never used it, too expensive.
But with Richards comment, you don't see many people in there on their laptops without having anything ordered. But I have done that once, only cos the maccas was right next to a motel I was staying at and I wanted to check my uni results.
Internet in Australia is not that cheap. Telstra/Bigpond - the people who own the infrastructure have the highest cost. 200mb for 29.95 per month (been like that for the past 5 or so years). Only recently they have modified the plans, so its now 2gb for the same price.
Check out www.bigpond.com and www.iinet.net.au, www.optus.com.au, www.internode.on.net for the prices that the most popular ISP's have.
It will be good when the new NBN network is finished, offering speeds of up to 100mb/s to like 96% of australia, when its now 24mb/s and lower to dialup speed.
adam.planteDec 17th 2009 10:50AM
I am pretty sure we have free wifi at all the macdonalds in Canada. We do at all the ones in my area and have for a awhile. It uses no authentication, its simply an open access point.
Andre RamonDec 17th 2009 5:56PM
Burger King has had free WiFi for years, although the connections at some are slow. Panera Bread always has fast free WiFi.
cindrella.watsonDec 21st 2009 12:27AM
Are you kidding me? This is just another ploy by McDonalds to get customers to stay longer. Don't let them kill our children! It's time to start slimming
down America – take care of your families and YOURSELF! http://www.tictacdo.com/ttd/Go-on-a-Raw-Food-Diet Here's a great link to help you gets started. Free
WIFI is everywhere – don't support this KILLER corporation.
Eric DDec 21st 2009 8:27AM
I thought it was already so. I've been using free wifi at my nearest McDonalds for some time now (in Belgium). I've also used it in a number of places in France.
It is not linked to any purchase, you can just stop on the parking lot and start surfing. It works pretty well in fact. There are a few limitations though: there is a "captive portal" that forces you to accept their terms and conditions for use and time is limited to 2 hours.