Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Mobile

    McDonalds Adds WLAN Access to Its Menu

    By
    Carmen Nobel
    -
    March 11, 2003
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      In a marriage of fast food and fast Internet, 10 McDonalds restaurants in the New York metropolitan area on Wednesday will begin offering an hour of free wireless Internet access with the purchase of an Extra Value Meal.

      By the end of the year, the fast food giant plans to extend this pilot program to 300 restaurants in New York, Chicago, and certain areas of California, according to officials at McDonalds in Oak Brook, Ill.

      The company behind the technology is Cometa Networks, a wireless LAN hot spot company founded in December by AT&T Corp., IBM and Intel Corp. along with two venture capital companies. Cometa is designed to be a wholesaler that sells to service providers. The McDonalds pilot does not follow this model, though; rather, it is a testbed for Cometa services in the most public of places.

      “Its just a real delivery on the promise of Wi-Fi [802.11b wireless LAN] technology in a very public environment,” said Norm Korey, vice president of wireless services for IBM Global Services in Armonk, N.Y., which is taking care of security access and much of the back-end integration in the McDonalds pilot, in addition to various other implementation services. “McDonalds is arguably one of the largest consumer companies from a restaurant perspective.”

      McDonalds pricing plan may change if the pilot goes well, Korey said. For now customers will get a free hour with the purchase of an Extra Value meal, with each additional hour costing $3.00—plus the price of whatever the customers eat in addition to the Extra Value Meal.

      “The longer an individual stays in the store, the more theyre likely to buy,” Korey said.

      The McDonalds launch coincides with the launch of Intels Centrino chipset, which the processor maker is launching on Wednesday. The Centrino chip set includes the Pentium-M chip—formerly known as “Banias”, an accompanying chip set and an 802.11b WLAN module.

      Customers who want to use public WLANs must have a notebook computer that supports 802.11b, and Intel has been trying to make customers want such a notebook by promoting the idea of public hot spots.

      On Tuesday, Intel announced plans to fund a marketing campaign advertising the public hot spots at more than 400 Borders Book & Music locations nationwide. T-Mobile U.S.A. Inc., which provides these services, has tested its network for compatibility with Centrino. T-Mobile also provides the services behind the WLAN hot spots in Starbucks coffee shops nationwide.

      A brochure for the McDonalds service features includes a link to Intels Web site along with the slogan “Making mobility a reality with McDonalds and Cometa.”

      But in spite of the proliferation of public hot spots in hotels, airports and coffee shops, potential customers have their doubts about the success of the McDonalds pilot.

      “McDonalds is all about mobility: mobility to pick up and go,” said Byron Seese, a graphic designer and notebook user who buys the occasional Extra Value Meal at McDonalds. “The only people that stay there are old people sipping coffee for three hours and parents with young screaming kids. Its the perfect environment for computing if I ever saw one. Im seeing a nice cozy corner with a fireplace, overstuffed armchairs, and mood music—with the happy colors of day glow orange and bright red, with fine paintings of Grimace and Ronald smiling manically down on me as my keyboard gets shiny from the grease.”

      Latest Centrino News:

      Search for more stories by Carmen Nobel.
      Find white papers on wireless.
      For more wireless news, check out Ziff Davis Medias Wireless Supersite.

      Carmen Nobel

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×