McDonald’s serves up Wi-Fi

Fast food behemoth McDonald’s Corp. has expanded its early venture into Wi-Fi service by launching “hot spots” at roughly 75 of its restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley.

The anticipated service launch — McDonald’s officials call it a “pilot program” — is actually an expansion of early trial limited to 10 of its New York City restaurants.

The burger baron is working with Intel and network operator Wayport on the Bay Area service.

McDonald’s tapped Cometa Networks for its New York trial run.

According to the company’s announcement, “the McDonald’s Bay Area pilot program is the first of three major metropolitan Wi-Fi tests McDonald’s is launching this summer. Wayport, the world’s largest provider of high-speed Internet access in hotels and airports, will provide the service for the Bay Area McDonald’s restaurants. Additionally, in an effort to enhance the end users’ wireless experience and enable interoperability, all McDonald’s Wi-Fi restaurants are verified with Intel Centrino mobile technology.”

Participating McDonald’s restaurants are located in both urban and suburban settings from San Rafael to San Jose and from Pleasanton to Half Moon Bay, according to the company’s press release.

McDonald’s charges Bay Area users $4.95 for two hours of Internet access. Other options are available.

Company officials also plan “to offer Wi-Fi at several hundred McDonald’s restaurants by year’s end. A number of New York City and Chicago McDonald’s restaurants will soon offer Wi-Fi access.”

McDonald’s West Division President Don Thompson said, “We are extending McDonald’s rich history of offering customers service, convenience and value that correspond to their daily lives by adding Wayport’s Wi-Fi service to select restaurants around the Bay Area. Today’s customer is more time-pressed than ever, and we think it’s important to meet the needs of busy professional and family lifestyles by offering services that are easy to use and relevant. We want the Golden Arches to be the first choice for a great meal and a place to go wireless.”

Dave Vucina, CEO of Wayport, added, “Participating in this pilot program at Bay Area restaurants is a natural extension of our existing service in hotels and airports. McDonald’s is leading the way in bringing this vital technology to millions of customers who need a convenient place to log on and work remotely or catch up with their daily schedules and correspondence while out of their home or office during the day. And now, in the San Francisco Bay Area, these guests will be able to connect either directly through Wayport or through our ‘roaming’ partners who in total serve more than 60 million consumers.”

A complete list of McDonald’s restaurants with wireless access in the Bay Area can be found at www.mcdwireless.com.