McDonald’s Corp said on Thursday it would offer wireless Internet access to 60 of its Chicago-area restaurants as it rolls out its Wi-Fi service to the US Midwest.
Under the pilot programme, customers will be able to surf the web from their laptops without the inconvenience of cables or plugs at the Golden Arches’ outlets in the Windy City, its suburbs and the nearby city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The service is being priced at five dollars an hour, or eight dollars for 24 hours, with seven — or 30-day connection plans also available, according to a McDonald’s statement.
The service will be available at 61 restaurants immediately, rising to 100 by the end of September.
It follows similar pilot projects in New York and the San Francisco Bay area, which were launched in March and July, respectively.
The company’s goal is to offer wireless web access at several hundred restaurants by year’s end, tapping into a trend that has seen Wi-Fi service added to the menu in coffeehouses, hotels and airports across the nation.
”This is a high-tech blend of innovation and convenience that will tell our customers McDonald’s is going to be a part of their world,” Phil Gray, McDonald’s central division vice president, said in a statement. ”We are literally connecting to the relevancy and immediacy of today’s busy American way of life.”
The coffeehouse chain Starbucks has offered the so-called Wi-Fi access in hundreds of its coffee shops across the country for two years, charging $30 a month for unlimited access with a one-year commitment, or six dollars for a one-time session of up to an hour. – Sapa-AFP