In January of 2010, the 11,000 McDonald's restaurants in the United States and some in Canada with Wi-Fi service will stop charging customers to get access to the Internet using wireless devices.

In January of 2010, the 11,000 McDonald's restaurants in the United States and some in Canada with Wi-Fi service (another 3,000 locations don't have it) will stop charging customers to get access to the Internet using wireless devices. What used to cost $2.95 for two hours will now come

McDonald's is joining chains like Barnes & Noble and Borders which have café's that used to charge for Wi-Fi and now don't. McDonald's will quickly become the largest provider of free Wi-Fi in the world. Starbucks does it as well, but only for a couple hours at a time.

The McDonald's network is run by AT&T ; the chain has had Wi-Fi for about five years, first from Wayport (which AT&T bought), and it's used not just for customer Internet access but also to run the in-store credit card terminals.



This move might make it just about impossible for any public location to be taken seriously when charging for Wi-Fi in the U.S. The few stragglers out there trying to squeeze us for cash all need to remember: we can now go down the road for a Big Mac and Fries and check our email for free. Even if we don't buy the food! Though it probably won't hurt those Big Mac sales much, either.