Big Mac and Wi-Fi, please


15 Sep 2003

From today fast food restaurant chain McDonalds will be offering free wireless broadband access from its new McCafé outlet on the Kylemore Road, just off the busy Naas Road in Dublin.

The wireless local area network was installed by wireless technology firm Text4Info and according to a spokesperson for McDonalds the company is planning to roll out more Wi-Fi networks as the company expands its chain of cafes.

“We are hoping to have two more McCafé’s up and running before the end of the year and we would be installing wireless broadband in those restaurants,” she said, adding that the company will soon be adding a Wi-Fi network to its Grafton St premises.

The managing director of McDonalds Restaurants in Ireland, Marcus Hewson, said of the service: “We believe this will be particularly popular with business people using latops or other wireless devices.”

The step is the latest in a series of moves by bars, cafés and restaurants to roll out Wi-Fi networks based on the logic that Wi-Fi offers a new potential revenue stream as well as the fact that people surfing the web are most likely to buy more food and refreshments.

By John Kennedy