McDonald's starts dishing out free WiFi at most of its U.S. restaurants
By Donald Melanson 
posted January 15th 2010 7:06PM
posted January 15th 2010 7:06PM
McDonald's promised that it would be make its in-restaurant WiFi service available for free in "mid-January" and, right on cue, it's now kicked things open to everyone with a laptop and a fast food craving starting today, January 15th. That service previously cost customers $2.95 for two hours of use, and it's already available at 11,500 of the company's 14,000 locations. Incidentally, that also makes McDonald's one of the largest providers of WiFi hotspots (free or otherwise) in the United States, with the company itself claiming that no less than 16% of reported WiFi hotspots in the U.S. are located at McDonald's.
YES!
@jol
McWiFi; you've clogged your arteries, now clog the tubes.
MAC-donald will be the new Starbucks for iphone/touch users 100%
@jol
I don't know why any restaurants still charge for wifi? It makes perfect sense that the longer you keep your customers within rangfe the more stuff they'll buy.
If I owned a business I'd make customers so damned comfortable they'd never want to leave.
@jol Sorry, but I don't want to get grease all over my laptop.....
@frankybones This SF Chronicle article discusses the problems that some coffee shops have when offering free wifi (customers occupy seats longer) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/08/DDKR1B2GRN.DTL
@jol
The headline startled me. I had a moment of "Oh yeah, that's right, McDonald's--yeah, they're technically restaurants, I guess."
Whatever. As long as I can haz my McFlurry....too bad the damn ice cream machines are always broken.
@Tweak589
Actually, there are two business models for restaurants. One that keeps people there, and one that pushes them away. McDonalds follows one that pushes them away, whereas a restaurant like Applebees keeps them in. Its all about the rate at which you turn tables and how much each table makes.
Its rather fascinating, and something you may want to consider reading more into. I won't go into anymore in a simple comment.
@jol
Awesome! Now I can use Mikie D's for something other then a bathroom.
@GoogleCEO If Mickey D's puts in couchs and comfortable armchairs they WILL be the new Starbuck's!
@jol
Fatass 2.0 now dowloading..............
We've had this free in the uk for a whil. And I've never used it because I don't want to get my iPhone/Netbook covered in grease
@GoogleCEO
I + ranked you because your avatar is awesome, just like mine!
@lakersin2025 Safeway already had it... but are there any security risks? like people doing illegal things online at McDees and no way of catching them?
@frankybones Not really, I will bring my laptop buy one coffe and sit there the whole day.
Pretty sure we've had free wi-fi at most if not all McDonalds stores here in Australia for a while now...
Oh they're good. Real good.
@TareG No, they're nasty. This still won't get me to cross their property line.
Who needs mobile broadband when you have a McDonalds every third corner?
@Torpedo Vegas
Around here at least, mcdonalds wifi sucks ass. I switched back to 3g because it was faster.
There were not alot of people there either.
@Torpedo Vegas Prepare for swarms of backpackers with eee pcs taking all the good cushiony seats every third corner, too.
@Torpedo Vegas
What do you do if you're on the first or second corner though?
@ilh
I believe the term is shit outta luck
I would never eat there but I guess if I sit down at a table where some pig left their wrappers and leftovers I could free wifi all I want to? Sweet!
@jdkullmann
Think the stuff wont tell you anything even if you come and sit down to surf the web on a clear table. In Russia they don't bother at all even if there is no free place for people to eat.
I think you should put 'restaurants' in air quotes. Or, to avoid the air-quotes, call them calorie ingestion stations.
@AW82
You mean quote.
Jesus.
@fox
Nah, I meant quotes. But thanks to Capt. Red Pen, the internets are safe! Glad you keep your cape on, even on Friday nights. Thanks again, Capt. Red Pen, you're my hero!!
Ass.
@AW82
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=air+quotes&l=1
And it's Saturday morning, in the office being paid to browse Engadget actually.
It's 'quotation marks'
so now you you can get fat and surf the internet while in the company of other fat people. A TRIFECTA!!
most of the mcdonald's that i've been to have free "attwifi". i didn't even know mcdonald's had wifi.
@andrewwg94 Previously, it was only free if you're an AT&T wireless customer with a smartphone. This is for ALL wifi devices including laptops.
If only it was in Canada too....I would sit outside in my car and use their Wi-fi.
@Nitesh
Good luck with that, they usually do good job only work wifi in the resturant, unless you are in drive way or in the door hard to get any signal.
We Americans are so far behind in internet technology it is disturbing. I lived in Honduras for a year, and there was not a single chain restaurant the didn't have WiFi. McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's, TGIF's. All of them. It was more of a shock to find one without, and this is news to us. Sad. Even worse, the entire nation has 3G coverage under one provider, and the rates are dirt cheap. Come on America, get with it here.
USA: 9,629,091 square kilometers
Honduras: 112,492 square kilometers
@seriousam7
Russia: 17,075,400 square kilometers
Guess what? :)
@marshallladd
50% of the population of Hondoras is below poverty level.
Unemployment is 27%.
How many people do you think have the ability to use that wifi?
@mcurrens
You don't have to tell me about the poverty there. And you would be surprised at the amount of wifi enabled cell phones and laptops. Even in the poorest of areas. And since they can't use it by your statement, why do all the restaurants have it, and it's new to us when we get it?
All I'm saying is that other parts of the world, including third world countries, this is the norm. We are behind.
@sergeev0
USA GDP: 14.4 trillion USD
Russia GDP: 1.6 trillion USD
Right back at ya ;)
@seriousam7
I know. So its even stranger why free wifi in every hole, WiMAX and 3G (excluding Moscow which will have it this year 'cause before the military used 3G frequencies for their shit) is normal in our relatively poor country, but not in your relatively rich.
And yes, we have nuclear weapons tie, so let's cool down before WW3 started :) (by the way just read crazy russian analyst who argue that Russia and the USA will start the war this summer, dunno how long this guy played MW2 before writing about this)
@sergeev0
Dude, I know, I read about that guy...I think there would be a US-China fight before a US-Russia fight, though. Back on topic:
USA population: 308 million
Russia population: 141 million, and SHRINKING :P heh heh
@sergeev0 Well actually, I think you've hit on the answer there. We do have a comparatively "rich" country, and one were the infastructure is pretty well built out (if not a little old). There is no need to give away what someone was willing to pay for. Also, generally speaking, McDonald's has never had much of a problem getting customers into its restaurants, so why offer something free that has comparitively little value? I think they are starting to change stratigies though. They figure if they can get people to hang out for a little while, they might get a second sale. Also, when you are preparing your brand for the "next generation" customer, and that customer has pretty much grown up with free wi-fi, you had better offer it too.
@seriousam7
Cool, dude, I thought he's articles available only in Russia.
I'm sure sure there won't be either Russia-US or China-US war. The WW2 killed almost 100 million. They're not SO stupid to kill EVEROBODY with current technology. I hope so...
And yes, by the way there is a problem for US-China war with Chinese weapons - they are nice, but anyway this guys won't have technological parity with US for decades... they still have to buy the most complicated parts (jet engines, for example) in Russia... And yes, even their copy of AK sucks 'cause they use regular steel for it, not the supercool-soviet-ultra-secret-steel that we use (and yes, they're not paying for licence so all their millions of AKs are pirated).
I hope there will be everybody - North Korea war, 'cause we must stop what's happening there. Thet's so bad my country, having pretty nice military power (not as yours for now, I admit) won't help South Korea, Japan and US in this case... as well as China won't...
@nickl
About old infrastructure you're right, I think this is the right question :)
I was in US, and can tell you that our McDonald's always was much much more popular there, then yours (cause we have just about 200-300 of them for now, not 14 000). So, in Russia they had even less reason to offer free wi-fi there.
About second sale there is a problem: if you're alone you have to take your laptop, come to buy wht you want and then return (just to find out that your place is already occupied) 'cause you won't leave your laptop on the table in McDonald's, I guess (as for me I accidentally left Iphone there one time and as far as i'm a no-iphone man since that day I won't for sure, in starbucks - yes, but not in McDonald's).
And, if you're NOT alone i bet you won't sit staring in your laptop.
There is a possibility of more FIRST sales I think: I mean people who will come to do something in the web and then buy somthing.
@seriousam7
If population density had that much to do with speed, availability, and cost of internet access, NYC should have some of the fastest, most widely available, and least expensive internet access in the world.
@marshallladd
i know, right? i was about to mention my two years in Costa Rica! personally, i feel like all of North America is out to rip me off at every turn because Canada's no better.
also, Airports need to get it together because this Boingo crap isn't working.
In Egypt, every cafe, restaurant, and Mcdonald's has had free WiFi for at least 5 years... when I moved here it stuck me at first how many places either had no WiFi, or inexplicably expensive WiFi.... Anyway, now there's a second good reason to get a double cheeseburger.
Finally,,, A reason to go to Mcdonald's.