McDonalds to go Wireless? 401
crayongod writes "The AP, by way of AOL *yipe*, is reporting a pilot program by McDonalds to provide inhouse WiFi with the purchase of a combo meal. This sure will make roadtrips a lot easier." An hour of access per combo meal. Additional hours can be purchased for $3... or another zillion calorie combo meal. Mmmm. Healthy.
McSlashdot (Score:4, Funny)
Would you like... (Score:5, Funny)
future tired jokes.... (Score:4, Funny)
"Yeah: CODE RED please.... AHAHAHAHAHA "
"*sigh* (another fucking slashdot wanker) Sorry sir we only carry Coca Cola products at McDonalds...."
FP? (Score:5, Funny)
Dang it. (Score:5, Interesting)
We're rolling out wifi all over the place, and McDonald's was going to be one of our targets.
Starbucks around here already said 'no' because they have an exclusive agreement with MSN to do it.
A year later not a single Starbucks around here has wifi.
Re:Dang it. (Score:2, Insightful)
All hype, no substance. When it does roll out, everyone will have forgotten about it, and it becomes nothing before it even has a chance. My opinion only, but it seems that in order for something to be popular, it has to hit a niche market, and grow from there (one example is Instant Messaging). I know a few places in Boston that tried to do sidewalk WiFi. I'm not sure how well it's working, but he's still in business
Re:Dang it. (Score:5, Interesting)
It doesn't hurt that my linux-based equipment is a LOT cheaper than commercial billing software.
Re:Dang it. (Score:3, Interesting)
Why would that business be interested, unless it was a coffeeshop too?
Sweet! (Score:5, Funny)
Wireless @ McDonalds (Score:5, Insightful)
I can see where it would be nice to have WiFi for your PDA to check email, but lugging my notebook in and getting my greasy fingers from my french fries on my laptop keyboard doesn't seem right.
I understand McDonald's business is hurting, but getting the tech crowd in isn't going to solve their revenue shortfalls.
Re:Wireless @ McDonalds (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Wireless @ McDonalds (Score:4, Interesting)
Most people retiring today have at least a basic familiarity with computers from their workplace. The retired set as a group also tend to have more disposable income that they can spend on computers. Yeah, the teenager might be all excited about technology, and know all about it, but can he afford it?. Lastly they have the free time to spend on the computer engaged in lesiure activities. They may not buy the latest and greatest games, but they e-mail, surf the web, etc.
Retirement communities are now having to take into consideration things such as computer labs, high speed access for their residents, and a generally more tech savy population than ever before. I think you would be suprised by the number of older people who would seriously consider taking advantage of this if McDonalds offered it.
Re:Wireless @ McDonalds (Score:5, Interesting)
Right -- Starbucks and Borders are all about a business model that went out of its way NOT to push people in and out of the door as fast as possible. Borders, and the Barnes and Noble "superstores," were very much reactions to B Dalton's buy-your-Stephen-King-and-get-out-of-the-cashier's -way approach.
B Daltons is still around, though, just serving a different audience. Makes you wonder how well Mickey-D's knows its own business model -- or how seriously they're looking to change it.
(This'd maybe make sense in McDonalds' franchises at highway stops, for traveling types?)
Re:Wireless @ McDonalds (Score:4, Informative)
B. Dalton's is also owned by...guess who? Barnes and Noble [barnesandnobleinc.com], thank you for playing. BN bought 'em and kept 'em around to serve as their shopping mall/mass transit hub (like Union Station, Wash. DC) outlet.
Trib
Re:Wireless @ McDonalds (Score:5, Interesting)
Just like any other resteraunt, McDonalds has busy times and slow times. If you linger in a slow time they don't care anyway, and if you linger to/through a busy time your going to need more food anyway.
Your incorrect that people don't linger. Most people don't true, but a few do. McDonalds is used as a meeting place by some groups. I once walked into someone presenting a buisness plan at 10:30 at night in a McDonalds. The restaruant was perfect, open that late, free, and provided coffee. (It was none of my business so I didn't linger but it seemed to be a potential startup that didn't yet have investers)
Access is provided one hour at a time, so it seems like they are trying to provide for the [business] crowd that comes in for lunch and needs to get some work done. This is the perfect way to target salesmen, they tend to spend most of their time behind customer firewalls that won't let them check email at the office. Run to McDonalds for lunch/supper (when you are not buying the customer lunch...) and catch up on the office news.
Re:Wireless @ McDonalds (Score:5, Insightful)
Lingering customers helps McDonalds (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wireless @ McDonalds (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Wireless @ McDonalds (Score:4, Insightful)
Odd colour schemes, uncomfortable chairs, etc.
Re:Wireless @ McDonalds (Score:5, Interesting)
The idea works in Tokyo because McD's is really not doing anything outside of their core business. Network support is contracted out, so they just have to keep making cofee and food. The US side is trying to add sysadmin tasks to the McDonald's worker as well as bank on folks using a computer while they eat a big mac. The only reason why I go to McD's over here is because they still have the fried apple pies, not that baked crap the US stores have served for the last 10 years. I'm not going to buy a value meal just to get on the net when I can do it at work for free, or home for what I'm already paying my ISP.
Re:Wireless @ McDonalds (Score:3, Informative)
At BK a whopper costs $0.54 in food [not counting labor or store costs] and sells for $2.39. A Medium coke costs $0.10 and sells for $1.29.
Re:Wireless @ McDonalds (Score:3, Insightful)
Not sure how true it is, but I've heard that many fast food places make a lot of their money off of drinks. It only costs them a nickel or dime to fill one of those huge cups they charge your over a dollar for. They just have the food there so you'll buy more drinks.
Re:Wireless @ McDonalds (Score:5, Interesting)
You can usally get the dispensers for free or a cheap price, and then purchasing large quantities of syrup and CO2 is relativly cheap. For my parents stores we paid more for the cup and lid then the soda.
That is one of the nice things about the "combo meals" you get a huge increase of the number of people who were not purchasing sodas or who where purchasing smaller sizes, So you do the combos with the large drink but give no discount(some places give a small discount, most don't check the next time at a fast food joint) and is a really nice increase in the money flow.
Right. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Right. (Score:5, Interesting)
Who says a geek can't be healthy?
In any case, WiFi in a fast food restaurant? Doesn't make sense. Airport - sure. Coffee Shop - cool. McDonalds - uh, why would I be stupid enough to pull my laptop out there and watch some kid spill ice-cream or coke on it? And since when did a fast food restaurant want you to hang around?
It's a publicity gimmick, and a stupid one at that.
Re:Right. (Score:3)
Actually, when I was a kid, there was a Burger King downtown that had table service. Yes, table service - as in you order, they bring it to you. (And this wasn't that long ago - ~1985/86). It wasn't a bad idea. The food comes quickly, but you can sit and hang around if you want - they had real chairs and tables too - none of this molded plastic crap. I wonder if they tried this anywhere. That Burger King was frequented by bankers and other suit types, so I bet WiFi there would have worked. Then along came the chic diets of the '90s in which eating anything fried is worse than spending a weekend in hell, and they closed in '93 or '94 (along with the nearby McDonalds and Wendys), and an Au Bon Pain moved in.
But I'm getting off-topic
Re:Right. (Score:3, Funny)
Fat? (Score:2, Funny)
FAST food (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm not sure how offering an hour of Wi-Fi access would help this, unless they expect us to stand outside and use it.
although you probably ment the last line in jest (Score:2)
Re:FAST food (Score:4, Interesting)
Think of the lawsuits... (Score:4, Funny)
MAC? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:MAC? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:MAC? (Score:2, Redundant)
This is not ggod for the common health of geeks! (Score:2, Insightful)
The next time you walk into a McDonalds (Score:4, Funny)
Re:The next time you walk into a McDonalds (Score:4, Interesting)
Hmmm... (Score:3, Insightful)
1) Anyone worried about greasy keypads? We all know how Micky Dees burgers are often dripping with grease. If some inept user were to eat with his laptop open, or even any user trying to type after a meal...
2) Some McDonald's don't want patrons staying for more than a half hour (case in point, McDonald's in the North Side of Pittsburgh). Would that policy be changed if you get an hour of access with an Extra Value Meal?
3) Would they have to change their slogan to "Over 1 Billion Geeks Served?"
And finally, 4) If a ton of geeks started patronizing the place at once, would that created a sort of inverted Slashdot effect?
I like the idea, personally. More power to them ^-^
Re:Hmmm... (Score:2)
No, no, it would be either Gigabytes and Gibabytes served, or Over 1 Gigageek Served.
Re:Hmmm... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm actually working with a local coffee shop in Philly to set up Wifi access. We are using custom software that will cut people after 2 hours, and turns the access off when the place it busy at night. She just didn't want to turn the place into a giant office.
Re:Hmmm... (Score:3, Interesting)
At night (after 8 or so) on the other hand, the place is packed, so the last thing she wants is for the place to turn into an anti-social everyone behind a screen type of place. She is trying to find a balance between making technology convienent and having it completely change the character of her establishment.
The software by the way runs under the Tclhttpd, MySQL, and a few watchdog scripts in the crontab.
The webserver modifies the MySQL database, and the changes are picked up by a monitor daemon that passes commands to iptables. Everyone in the store gets an RFC1918 address, and (if they are paid up) they can route to the internet using IP Masquerading. Since the software runs as a website, the counter person just logs onto the "gateway", and sees a list of who is plugged into the network (information I sift from the dhcp leases.) From there he/she can activate or deactivate connections manually. By default an activated connection will be programmed to time out after a set period of time, enforced by a cron job that checks every 5 minutes or so.
Patrons can look at the same website and see how long they have left, and the menu.
I'm playing with the new(er) toys in the kernel that let you filter by MAC number. Failing that I'll just pull the mac numbers out of the DHCP leases, pair them with an IP address, and filter on that.
Naturally, since I'm building on GPL code, I will be releasing the source when it's finished on my website (http://www.etoyoc.com).
Re:Hmmm... (Score:2)
The policy in most metropolitan McD's is this: Overstay your half hour => Be fed to the Grimace [mcdonaldsindia.com]
Re:Hmmm... (Score:2)
That is what the convenient and sanitary McBathrooms are for. Maybe they'll give out wet-knaps as well.
Re:Hmmm... (Score:2)
2. You're right, McD's doesn't have a public pay phone for this exact reason -- no loitering. Does that mean that they don't want to attract more and more people in the sector of business for lunches? If I had WiFi at McD's I might be more inclined to actually eat there (until Boston Market or Wendy's got WiFi).
3. No.
4. It would be an interesting place for a
Why? (Score:5, Funny)
I can hear... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I can hear... (Score:2, Funny)
Finally, something for adults! (Score:5, Insightful)
It sometimes snows in Chicago, or gets darn cold. Especially in the winter.
At which point I am quite happy that there is a McDonalds down the street with a playland. I can take the kids there and cut them loose for an hour or so to burn off their energy. It's a great thing.
McD has been very family orientated for quite some time now, giving us a place to let our brats romp about, while we eat a McCoronary and pass the time. Having the ability to hook up to the net while my kids are going down the static electricity slide is a great thing. I'll be able to do something that entertains me, if I can ignore the screaming of the kids.
Re:Finally, something for adults! (Score:3, Funny)
I recommend earplugs. Or a shotgun.
(No, just fire it into the air, scare em a little. What did you think I meant, you psychos?)
Re:Finally, something for adults! (Score:3, Funny)
"I'm trying to bring them up the right way. I'm not spanking them. I find that I don't have to spank them; I find that waving the gun around pretty much gets the same job done."
Re:Finally, something for adults! (Score:2, Funny)
You'd hate to be distracted from doing other things
Re:Finally, something for adults! (Score:2)
Here in the United States I trust the government to think for me.
Actually, my wife comes along, and has no interest in surfing the internet, so I'm covered quite well. I usually bring something to read and she tells me when one of the youngest ones is stuck at the top of the playland. At which point I climb in and "rescue" my children.
I know it made you feel all super and cynical to find a way to say I'm a crappy parent. Sorry, I'm not. Enjoy your day anyway.
don't have kids (Score:2)
Re:Finally, something for adults! (Score:3, Funny)
You actually bring up a good point. I can just picture myself about to send the One Perfect Email, when my kids run over fresh off the slide. "Whatcha doin' dad?" *ZAP* "Er, nothing now."
For those not in the US (Score:2)
Which is no more than 2 BigMac's [lunchclock.com].
Coverage (Score:2, Interesting)
So this is not necessarily a bad thing, but I wish they'd bring it to some other fast food places with some better meals.
Already a lawsuit in the wings (Score:5, Funny)
Spilled hot coffee - melted my keyboard; shorted my laptop
Greasy fingers from French Fries caused marks on screen & keys devaluing laptop
Internet access points were under heat lamps causing data not to be secure
So anyone can connect to this lan? (Score:3, Funny)
Live at McDonalds (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Live at McDonalds (Score:3, Funny)
Well, unless you count the lack of a shower..
No, wait, this is slashdot
unless you count having someplace private to bring a girl..
No, wait, this is slashdot
Oh never mind
*whiny simpsons teenager voice* (Score:5, Funny)
Should I super-size your bandwidth?
Honestly, I'm wondering what the training implications of this will be.
War Chalking (Score:2)
Re:War Chalking (Score:3, Funny)
Would you like..... (Score:2)
the marketing possibilities are endless! (Score:5, Funny)
Sounds (Score:5, Funny)
Frivolous Lawsuit, GOGOGOGOGO! (Score:2)
In seriousness though, how soon you think it will be until some kids are browsing rotten.com or something like that in McDonalds, in sight of other patrons....what type of filtering will they enforce? That could be a legit. reason for a lawsuit
Rotten Ronnie's (Score:2, Insightful)
Its a microsoft plot, of course (Score:5, Funny)
Next they will announce 'free' broadband for a week with the purchase of a carton of smokes.
Nice... (Score:3, Funny)
sarcasm (Score:2)
Mechanism? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Mechanism? (Score:5, Informative)
You buy a meal from McDonalds. "Would you like Internet Access?" the 15 year old hottie asks you.
"Um...sure," you say, your laptop getting heavy on your shoulder.
She hands you a card (or perhaps its printed on the receipt). It has an IP Address, a subnet mask, and a gateway. Hopefully there would be instructions nearby, with settings for Macs, Win95 - WinXP.
They could specify IP addresses that are good for only one hour, and to keep up with the load they could also use different subnets. The NAT used in the router would take care of IP leasing issues, and there should be no DHCP (or else you'd get free 'net access just by turning on your laptop and WiFi card).
Sounds fairly simple to me, but the hype is probably louder than customers who actually want this.
Re:Mechanism? (Score:5, Informative)
I've seen variations on this theme at the university I attended and apartments I've stayed at. (1) It's a lot easier once the infrastructure is in place, and (2) McDonald's does NOT want to deal with 1000 customers who have no clue about how to type in their IP address, and (3) It would stay compatible with the other types of WiFi networks you commonly see (ie, no manually switching your settings as you enter or leave McD's).
Re:Mechanism? (Score:3, Funny)
Um, you need to spend less time at the PlayLand and more time with adults. Sick bastard.
Will you have to use... (Score:2)
Whew, good thing they made it to the kernel.
Microwaves (Score:2, Interesting)
Err.. (Score:2)
Then again there is the geek stereotype of dirty pale-faced guys munching on pizza. Me, greasy food and laptops do not go hand-in-hand.
Who do they think they are... Starbucks?
Anything to avoid improving the food (Score:5, Funny)
A fridge too far (Score:2)
Salesman: Work, huh? Let me guess. Computer programmer, computer magazine columnist, something with computers?
Homer: Well, I use a computer.
Salesman: Yeah, what's the connection? Must be the non-stop sitting and snacking.
What billing mechanism? (Score:5, Insightful)
The article seems to suggest that the billing will be done on a per-burger basis i.e. you buy your burger, you get a little card with a pin# on it, and you then connect to the LAN.
This seems to suggest an anonymous means of surfing (all for the cost of a burger) - an approach that would land McD's in difficulties within hours of launching the service.
The other approach is a 'customer-registration' service, and I for one am not sure I need McD's to know where I (burger-swilling-geek that I am) live.
Enforcing the 1-hour rule (Score:2, Interesting)
Or maybe I've got it all wrong. Could someone briefly elaborate?
Now I'll just get BIGGER! /sigh (Score:2)
Whats next McWebHosting? (Score:2, Funny)
Dumpster diving for Wi-Fi (Score:2)
I can already see the same thing happening at McDonalds, as teens without broadband at home search through the trash bins and dumpsters to get the access codes for a few more hours of free, high speed Internet.
A whole hour?!? (Score:2)
I do like the idea, though. I just wonder how much of your hour you actually will get to use.
Seems like the antithesis of McD's objectives (Score:2, Insightful)
Gives new meaning to the term "Big MAC" (Score:4, Funny)
Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)
or another zillion calorie combo meal? (Score:5, Funny)
Has McDonald's truly thought this out? (Score:3, Insightful)
OTOH, I can see McD's as the new hangout for Quakers. Instant catered LAN party, and the participants have to buy at least one burger an hour to keep playing.
Easy to abuse? (Score:3, Interesting)
This could actually be very cool (Score:3, Interesting)
Imagine this is distributed worldwide: Internet access for everybody! About time!
You have to buy a bigmac (you don't have to eat it though), and you get one hour of surf. It's cheaper than most European cybercafes...
Plasma Menus (Score:5, Funny)
It would be great if someone hacked into their wi-fi network and change the menu items to include more exotic items:
French Fries $2.49
Chicken Nuggets $3.99
Grimace Testicles $1.99
Why charge for it? (Score:3, Insightful)
Later if internet trafic became a problem then they could impliment a pay or buy something first model.
Wrong Crowd Goes to McD's (This Will Fail) (Score:3, Insightful)
As someone said earlier, it is just a poorly conceived publicity gimmick!
Re:How does this benefit me? (Score:3, Interesting)
The point is about a major chain offering Wi-Fi.
Let's think, if McDonalds is offering it and it does well then maybe others will follow suit.
Wi-Fi could become very common. To most people this is news.
Sorry neither the world nor slashdot revolves you and your ego.
Re:mcdonalds food (Score:5, Informative)
Prime, Choice, Select, Standard, Commercial, Utility, Cutter, and Canner.
Eggs and Poultry are graded with letters, but hey. Poultry only goes to C, of course.
You even provide a definition of Grade D beef! That's so nice of you! Really impressive, too, since it doesn't exist.
Educate yourself. [usda.gov]
And stop pretending, and spreading your bullshit, okay?
Re:mcdonalds food (Score:3, Informative)
The grading you mention is only for the Marbling of the beef. There are many other scores to take into consideration. If you pulled your head out of your ass, you'd realize this.
http://meat.tamu.edu/beefgrading.html
The USDA officially rates beef according to the scale Prime, Choice, Good/Select, Standard and Commercial, although many been vendors may use the letter grades as "shorthand".
http://www.restorationfarms.com/image9.gif
Please see the above
There's just something about the sound of "utility beef" that just isn't appetizing. So enjoy your next big mac...
Ignorance is bliss, isnt it?