Instead of only sitting in a cafe with a cup of coffee, wireless Internet users now can surf the Web with a Big Mac in hand.
Four McDonald's locations in the Lansing area have hooked up to the trend of wireless access - 1024 E. Grand River Ave., 3220 E. Saginaw Road in Lansing, 2040 W. Grand River Ave. in Okemos and 709 N. Larch St. in Lansing.
With more than 6,000 McDonald's worldwide that now offer wireless Internet, it has become a commodity in some areas that customers want, company spokeswoman Shannelle Armstrong said. It is not necessarily something to make customers stay longer, she said.
"It's an added convenience while people are enjoying our restaurants," Armstrong said.
On a recent trip to Chicago, MSU Senior Information Technologist Rich Wiggins said wireless technology seemed to be everywhere. He received 40 different wireless or wi-fi access points from his hotel alone. Wireless is becoming more popular just about anywhere you go, Wiggins said, who works in Academic Computing & Network Services.
In downtown East Lansing on Albert Street, Wiggins said as many as 12 different wireless signals can be picked up on a wireless laptop.
"The good news is that the technology is really taking off," Wiggins said. "The bad news is that it is not like a cell phone, and you can't turn it on everywhere."
But he said it is becoming so available that it has become not important where wireless technology is available, but where it comes from.
"The question is, will it be something that is provided by municipalities, private service providers, businesses like Starbucks or Panera, or a combination of all those?" Wiggins said.
Because it is becoming so widely available and the prices are becoming more reasonable, Wiggins said he is not surprised businesses like McDonald's have chosen to have wireless.
"The cost to provide the service is not at all high, but the benefits of having it are high," Wiggins said. "People will go to the place that has it."
Students have mixed feelings about the new wireless business in East Lansing. History and geography junior Ana Tinsler said fast food restaurants having wireless is a good idea, although she doesn't eat at McDonald's.
"It would be cool if more restaurants had it," Tinsler said. "It is interesting because it is fast food.
"It could be a way to bring more people in, because it seems like people are becoming more health conscious and fast food is declining."
But John Marshall, a interdisciplinary studies in social science junior, said he doesn't use wireless Internet, and he wouldn't want to use it at McDonald's.
"I wouldn't go to McDonald's for studying purposes," Marshall said. "There's better places for that."
