McDonalds launches free wi-fi - and a little McCensorship
UPDATED 1.24pm: In response to the reader query below, McDonalds acknowledged that its free wi-fi connections would be censored, with some websites blocked or "filtered".
"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," a spokesperson told NBR.
"Through its specialised internet service vendor [TelstraClear], McDonald’s has a sophisticated 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."
McDonald’s claims it is now the largest free internet provider in New Zealand.
Today the company announced that it is offering free wi-fi in nearly all its restaurants nationwide.
TelstraClear is the service provider.
There is no time-limit, but here is a data limit of 50MB per customer.
McDonald’s free wi-fi is currently available in 132 restaurants nationwide from today, with 145 restaurants expected to be offering the service by the end of the year.
Unfortunately for travellers sick of nose-bleed wi-fi fees charged by airports, there are nine foodcourt restaurants and four airport McDonald's which are not able to offer the service due to lease arrangements.
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Comments and questions31
Good on you Macdonalds. The airport restriction is a simple restraint of trade, an anti competitive measure that the Commerce Commission should take a close look at. And the governing Boards of the airport authorities who permit these restraint of trade rules in regard to supplying free wi=fi need a wake up call from their shareholders. Consider dubai and Vancouver, compare Sydeny and LA/SF. What a pleasure to travel through the former and a pain in the butt through the latter - simply becasue of the free-to-public wi fi in the former. Free wi fi access - ie free electronic communication with freinds and family and businesses - at airports is a no brainer for building long term customer good will.
Free at airports is a trend. New Hong Kong
airport has great facilities with free wifi one aspect.
Great. Now when I go in for a meal I'll have to fight for a seat between all the wifi freeloaders...
here here jagfnz - some NZ corporates need to wake up and look at the bigger picture and not focus on the quick bucks with no purpose but to keep bleeding us dry with stupid costs. Hotels are the worst!
PG, why don't you engage your brain before you post. Clearly you'll have to make a purchase and be provided a code to log-on. You won't be sitting by freeloaders.
...wonder if they will have the safe content filter and restrictions on seating for wifi customers that they have in Australia...
You're wrong. McDonald's in Queen Street have had free wifi for a while now and you don't have to make a purchase or get a code.
Awake: You don't need to buy anything to go on the wireless, but I assume that, regardless of what you're doing/where, if you're taking up seats at any kind of restaurant without buying anything, you'd be asked to leave.
woohoo! so when i want to steal copyright material I'll head to Maccas and they can fight the new look s92. Because they'll never ID me but Maccas has deeeeeep corporate pockets to plunder.
Memo to RIAA/MPAA/RIANZ: your retirement fund is safe. Have at it.
Don't forget Wellington Airport which has had free wireless for some time
so does some bnz branches, have had so for over a year
Macas at various locations over Europe had free WIFI, we used it extensively when backpacking... and we didn't buy any food we just walked in and used it.
Free at Airports isn't a trend, it's been a fact around much of the world for most of the last decade.
Also 50mb? Well I guess that's NZ. I've not heard of a limit anywhere else.
Still it's good to see NZ making a minor catch-up even if it's still leaves us way behind most of the world.
Just about cafe and bar in Singapore offers free wi-fi as do almost all malls and many shopping zones. The same in most major US cities and Hong Kong. Bangkok has 17,000 free wi-fi hot spots
PC - You poor person - thinking that eating at Mc Donalds constituteseating a meal!
50Mb seems like enough data for one sitting. Besides there are so many McDs around you only need to walk 5 minutes and you'll be able to get yourself another 50Mb.
Also don't forget that along the Wgtn waterfront there's free Wi-fi. Most of the time you'll have to be sitting outside to use it, but there's a few little cafe's where you can get online. Go Wellington.
Well as long as you don't block Wikileaks i'm happy. Surely McDonalds is not an agent of US policy like Visa, Amex and Paypal.... Or are you?
Fleabag - knowing a bit about the technology being used, my expectation is that McDs can (and will) track your usage across multiple restaurants, so I wouldn't assume you'll be able to flit between several restaurants in the same day and get 50MB every time.
50 mb is like watching one YouTube video. What a ridiculous limit.
50 mb is like watching one YouTube video. What a ridiculous limit.
Free to check your e-mails both at macdonalds and at a public library. we are almost second world!
Good on you McDonalds - not that I need yet another reason to enjoy a Big Mac! :-)
PG - you can't call Mac's food a meal ... thats a push
That spokesperson sounds like he's reading from the FAQ...
Airport wifi restrictions just highlights how backward NZ is in general. For a long time, we kiwis beat our chests boasting we are early adopters of technology, but its actually a fallacy - this Airport restraint of trade highlights this.
I would have expected Macca's to be delivering a FAT internet experience! Disappointed you are not sticking to your brand values!
50mb in one sitting is great for normal users - Im lucky to go through 50mb a month on my iPhone.
Is it a way I can get the ssid and I p address to connect wifi to my psp at my house
I understand the censorship block includes information sites like Family Planning Association and Rainbow Youth. They're family friendly sites so I think McD and Telstra Clear are overreacting.
I think 50MB is fine for one visit. I don't think they can claim the largest free internet provider in NZ though. Being an internet provider surely means you can at least collect your email using a client like Thunderbird or Outlook Express and Maccas Free WiFi does not let you do that.
I suspect the port blocking has gone overboard...... Such a shame.
We live in range of Mc Donalds for our home. I have 7 wireless USB sticks, so I just swap between them, since the MAC address changes for each stick. that's 350mb per 24hrs, or 10.5gb a month for free.
and my ds
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