McDonald's serves WLAN broadband in Japan

Do you want fries with that?

By Tim Richardson • Get more from this author

Posted in Mobile, 14th May 2002 06:48 GMT

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Fast-food diners in Japan could soon be able to get broadband with their burgers.

According to reports, Internet investment outfit Softbank and McDonald's are to create almost 4,000 "hotspots" in McDonald's restaurants in Japan to give punters wireless broadband access to the Net.

It would mean that diners chomping on a burger and fries while slurping a fizzy drink could also access the Net using a laptop or other mobile gadget.

The service could cost as little as $12.50 a month, according to Reuters.

Last month, BT announced that it intended to create a public access Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) in the UK.

The monster telco wants the hotspots in key public sites such as hotels, railway stations, airports, bars and coffee shops, and is already talking to Costa Coffee concerning a possible deal. ®

BT to intro public 802.11 WLANs in UK

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