Upon a recent inspection of who is using their free Wi-Fi, McDonald's discovered that it isn't the business-on-the-go crowd or even the casual web-surfer looking for some hotcakes to chow down while they browse the morning's news. Oh no, in fact the answer might surprise you: it's the gamer. You read that right, apparently gamers (most importantly, DS enthusiasts) account for 25% of the Wi-Fi traffic in their establishments.As you all know, over 8,000 McDonald's restaurants offer the free Wi-Fi service, but it isn't really even aimed at the customer. David Grooms, vice president of IT at McDonald's USA, says "It gives us a platform to use wireless applications within the restaurant," pointing out wireless headsets and other technology used by the employees of each establishment. Grooms says this will change, though, stating that "getting the word out that we are a secured wireless haven is really big for us this year."
Personally, we're not big fans of McDonald's and usually fight tooth and nail before being dragged into the place, unconscious. But, what about you guys? Do you use their free Wi-Fi for your DS needs?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-17-2007 @ 2:48PM
hvnlysoldr said...
Ronald and Mario costume still looks better than the King.
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4-17-2007 @ 2:50PM
itsMeMario said...
Wait... the _headsets_ used by the drive-through order takers is on the 802.11 net? How long before the first DoS aimed at McD's from a van in the parking lot?
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4-17-2007 @ 2:59PM
zorikin said...
So when will we see McDonalds respond to "Sneak King ", etc, with a line of $10 DS games?
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4-17-2007 @ 5:00PM
Sean said...
The article somewhat confuses me, as "secure" wireless isn't really conductive of 'pop in and play' unless they are using WEP and have the key available for everyone to use (which is basically the same as having an insecure network).
Perhaps the VP is misreferencing the initiative mentioned over a year ago, where McDs partnered with Waypoint to provide Internet Access to DS players? (http://ds.ign.com/articles/659/659005p1.html)
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4-17-2007 @ 10:21PM
Charles said...
When it was first announced that you could play Mario Kart online and that McDonald's has a wireless connection, I did go quite often to try it out.
Since then I got my own wireless connection at home (specifically for my fiancee's laptop) so having it available for the DS and now Wii was a nice bonus.
Besides, greasy fast food fingers and DS touch screens don't mix well.
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4-19-2007 @ 3:43AM
Gamer7 said...
As a nintendo appreciator i would just like to say that i dont like playing with other people, leave me alone with my games.
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