Starting in mid-January of 2010, 11,000 plus U.S.
McDonalds (and a slew of Canadian McDonald's) that have Wi-Fi will begin
offering the service for
free. It used to cost $2.95 for two hours on the AT&T operated network (originally Waypoint), but obviously the business model of Borders, Caribou Coffee and others that offer free Wi-Fi to patron's was appealing to McDonalds. the benefits to the consumer are obvious, as mobile devices, laptops and handhelds now can hit the internet without using burning through those precious paid for minutes. For me, I now have an iPod Touch that can be used in 11,000 new places that I couldn't get online with before, so I am a happy camper.
Hopefully, anyone that still has the cajones to charge for Wi-Fi after this announcement and Goggle sponsoring free Wi-Fi at many airports Nationwide this Holiday season will put them on notice that times are a changing and they need to keep up.
