McDonald's free wi-fi FAQ

Thu, 16th Dec 2010

FYI, this story is more than a year old

McDonald’s has struck a deal with TelstraClear that sees the fast-food chain become New Zealand’s latest, free internet provider of wi-fi.

The service is available in 132 restaurants nationwide and McDonald’s expects to have 145 of 158 locations up and running by the end of the year.

McDonald’s says the service is completely free, you don’t even have to purchase anything to access the internet.

Here’s the official FAQ about the dos and don’ts of the deal, though to be fair there are more do than don'ts:

What do customers need to access McDonald’s Free wi-fi?

Customers will need to have their own laptop, PDA or mobile phone which supports wireless technology. If your device doesn’t have wireless built in, you can buy a separate wireless card from any major electronics store.

Is the McDonald’s Free wi-fi access really free?

Yes. Internet access gained through the wireless connection of your device to the McDonald’s Free wi-fi hotspot is absolutely free.

How secure is McDonald’s Free wi-fi service?

McDonald’s New Zealand uses stringent, monitored security technology to ensure only valid network information is delivered to and from this internet connection.

McDonald’s does recommend that when using Free wi-fi internet in its restaurants, you ensure you have current anti-virus software installed on your PC.

Can customers look at any web content using the McDonald’s Free wi-fi internet access?

McDonald’s is a family friendly environment and we would expect people to respect this by not viewing material that may be offensive to others.

Through its specialised internet service vendor, McDonald’s has a content filtering technology which may block certain websites.

McDonald’s also has a fair use policy, whereby some restrictions on web content and/or download limits may be applicable to your internet session. There’s no time restriction, but customers are limited to downloading 50MB of data per session

How fast is the internet access for McDonald’s Free wi-fi?

This will vary across restaurants. A number of factors beyond the control of McDonald’s have the ability to influence the speed of your internet access including:

Strength of the wireless signal within that restaurant
Wireless network connection speed
The number of customers online at any given time in the restaurant
Web pages that have a large amount of content or stream videos

Will staff be able to help me get connected to the internet?

No. Unfortunately McDonald’s employees are unable to provide any technical advice or assistance and have been told not to interfere with customers’ electronic devices.

Will I be able to charge (or re-charge) my laptop/PDA/mobile phone in the McDonald’s restaurant?

No. Unfortunately McDonald’s doesn’t have any suitable power outlets that can be used by customers to charge their devices. We recommend you ensure your device has sufficient battery life to maximise your experience.