Great news for road warriors who stop at McDonald's for a quick cup of joe -- or a heart-stoppin' good lunch: Starting in January, McDonald's fast food restaurants will become one of the nation's largest providers of free Wi-Fi Internet access, according to reports.
A new deal with AT&T will provide really and truly free -- wireless Internet access at 11,000 of the McDonald's 14,000 U.S. locations.
Right now, McDonald's charges $2.95 for two-hours of Internet access, but that charge is set to be lifted in January. The move by McDonald's, which offers a McCafe line of coffee drinks, is seen as increasing the ante in a battle for customers in the specialty coffee niche, where it competes with the likes of Starbucks. Starbucks currently offers both free and paid-for wireless Internet options to customers.
McDonalds is clearly trying to increase its customer base. As unemployment continues to plague the U.S. economy, the fast-food chain saw domestic same-store sales fall 0.6 percent last month, down for the second consecutive month. In response, McDonald's is focusing more on value -- hence the free Wi-Fi -- and plans also to launch a dollar breakfast menu next month, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Published reports also quote AT&T as maintaining that its public Wi-Fi access points have already been used more than 51 million times during 2009, more than double the number of connections during all of 2008.
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