Wi-fi and a Big Mac?
December 12, 2007 at 10:30 am
Fancy checking your emails while you wolf down a Big Mac and fries? Fancy doing it for no more than the price of your food? Pretty soon you’ll be able to. Fast food giant McDonalds is introducing free wireless broadband services in up to 1200 of their restaurants here in the UK. You heard right – free.
Demand and usage of Wi-fi hotspots in major towns and cities have gone through the roof in the last year or two. Trains, planes, bars and many others now grant their visitors access to the internet for use on their laptops, mobile phones and handheld games consoles. But now McDonalds are joining in on the fun and have the power and money to offer it for nothing.
McDonalds in the US have already shown the service works, and currently 8,000 of the 13,000 restaurants in the States have Wi-fi on-tap. It’s reported that it could save the regular Wi-fi user up to £260 a year if they decide to go for a Quarter Pounder with cheese, or something similar, when they want to quickly use the net.
Steve Easterbrook, the President and Chief Executive of McDonalds said, “We hope that this will be a breath of fresh air and give greater choice for Wi-fi hotspot users who have had little choice but to pay by the month or hour to access the internet on the move.”
The Cloud will be the service providers supporting the new scheme and they will provide the platform on which the service will run. The Director of Business and Development at The Cloud said in relation to the partnership,
“It’s great to see McDonald’s taking such a visionary stance and bringing Wi-fi to the mass market in this way. McDonald’s free Wi-fi service will deliver a high quality out of home broadband experience, which represents a significant step forward for UK consumers on the move. We’re looking forward to developing further Wi-fi propositions and activities with McDonald’s in the future.”
Looks like we’ll be combining our Big Macs with our Apple Macs in time for Christmas!
