McDonald's Networks Wireless Service with Sweeps

After introducing wireless Internet service in close to 250 restaurants in the San Francisco Bay, Chicago and Tri-State areas, McDonald's is surveying its Wi-Fi users on what they think of the new connections.

By filling out a survey online in a McD restaurant, consumers are entered into a sweepstakes dangling electronics equipment, including IBM ThinkPad notebooks and Palm Tungsten C handhelds. One of each will be awarded each month through December in each of the three markets. Marketing Store Worldwide, Oak Brook Terrace, IL, handles.

Cometa Networks, San Francisco, provides the wireless network for Oak Brook, IL-based McD and all restaurants use the Intel Centrino mobile technology. The program is being promoted with P-O-P displays; a list of participating restaurants is at www.mcdwireless.com.

The service first rolled out in New York City in March, and is now available in certain restaurants in New Jersey, Connecticut and in the Chicago and Milwaukee areas.

Seventy-five restaurants in the Tri-State area are providing the AT&T service free throughout the month and will charge $2.99 a day from then on (Xtra, Aug. 5). The company expects to add two to three markets by the end of the year.