Hotspots at McDonald's?

[Torsten]

Hi,

I must admit that I eat at a McDonald's restaurant from time to time and I noticed that every McDonald place I've been to recently has a T-Mobile Hotspot. Not that anyone would be using it. So far, I've never seen a single person with a laptop at a McDonald's.

Now, what is the situation in the US? Do McDonald's restaurants have hotspots there and if so, is anyone using them? And while we are at it, could you please tell me how you pronounce WLAN? Is it "w lan" or "w l a n" (do you pronounce each letter separately or is WLAN an acronym?).

Thanks,
Torsten
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Jamie (K)]

I haven't seen any hotspots at McDonald's (although that's not surprising, since I never go there), but I have seen a hotspot at a Wendy's. It wasn't for any particular phone company, but just generic wireless access. No one was using it, but this isn't a surprise, because that type of restaurant is meant for people to get in and out quickly.

Nearly every Starbucks and Caribou Coffee here has a hotspot, hooking in to various carriers, and people DO use laptops there, because people hang around coffee shops for long periods of time. Most Borders, Barnes & Noble and other big bookstores have hotspots in their coffee shops, which people do use, and almost every college and university campus has universal wireless access anywhere one happens to be sitting, including on the grass or in the parking lot.

WLAN is pronounced "double-U-lan".

[prezbucky]

Torsten

Almost all of my purchases at McDonald's take place via the Drive-Thru (I think that's exactly how they spell it), so I cannot really comment on the "Hot Spot" phenomenon.

However, I will say this:

Were I to eat inside the McDonald's, I'd likely be too into my Quarter Pounder With Cheese to notice much else. hehe
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Torsten]

Hi Tom,

Many thanks for sharing your experiences. As for the drive thru option, I think that's Burger King, at McDonald's that's called "Drive in". And my friend Alex, who is a frequent McDonald's customer says those shops with the drive in option are called "McDrive". We can check this right now if the battery of his laptop permits which I doubt. By the way, Alex is proud to be able to use his UMTS connection so is independent when it comes to connecting to the Internet. No hotspots needed...
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[prezbucky]

cool

BTW, totally unrelated:

Your first and last initials are good ones here in the US:

TD

Touchdown Torsten!

hehe
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Torsten]

[Torsten]

[Conchita]

[Torsten]

Hi Chonchita

Many thanks for your response. The question still remains, how many people in the US or the UK would use the abbreviation TD on a regular basis?

Regards,
Torsten
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Jonikru]

Good day everyone,

I'm fairly new here to this forum and I hope I could bring some values by answering some of your questions.
WLAN pronounces as "vi-lan" and it has been widely used here in the states in the number of restaurants, cafes and coffee shops. Not sure about Europe, but here in the states McDonalds does not have a good reputation for its allegedly poor sanitary conditions, unhealthy food products, related environmental problems, and unfair working conditions.
Whether it warrants the attention or not, the fast-food industry is still regularly cited for serious health problems among American consumers.

No wonder why no one browse the Net while eating at these fast-food chain restaurants because the question remains "Should I browse the Net and not pay attention what inside of that hamburger?".

Cheers,
Jonikru

[Torsten]

Hi Jonikru,

Welcome to our forum and many thanks for your answering some of my questions. Could you please tell me why WLAN is pronounced "vi-lan"? Shouldn't it be pronounced "double-u-lan"? As for the reputation of McDonald's, I think many people here in Germany would agree with your opinion. However, I've learned that the majority of people is always wrong when it comes to discussing business. McDonald's reputation might be bad but this doesn't prevent that company from generating billion of dollars in revenue and opening a couple of new stores every single day. Maybe there working conditions are "unfair" (what exactly does that mean anyway?), but the fact remains: They employ tens of thousands of people worldwide. No matter how good or bad the reputation of McDonald's might be, it's obvious that they have some of the most brilliant business people in their ranks. How else would they have been able to move into more than 100 countries and do business there?
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Jonikru]

Hello Torsten,
I've made a joke about the quality of hamburgers at McDonalds, but I do believe we are now in a new era and we demand higher-quality and good healthy food.

Please understand, I do not question the success of McDonalds and other fast-food chain restaurants. I have no doubt about the McDonalds performance, financial revenues and popularity across 119 countries in the world. The NYSE stock (MCD) has been growing significantly in recent 5 years. It's shown a good growth and potential. Take a look at their impressive stock quote bellow.
http://quote.morningstar.com/Quote/Quote.aspx?ticker=MCD

From the business perspective...well, here is what I'm just thinking:

McDonalds offers cheap and affordable food. The company's goal is to sell food to an average consumer (middle-class adults, younger population or poor) because its cheap and affordable. The key element in this business, I think, is QUANTITY, not quality.

Now, as a business owner of this industry I would ask myself:

1. Can my customers afford laptop computers if they eat cheap food?

2. I am interested in selling foods in quantity. Average customer eats their food in 20-30 minutes. How much bussiness I would loose if the wireless is offered and my customer stays there for a long time taking up space.

3. Do I need to train my staff if the customer ask questions about their laptop connectivity?

I've made a mistake about the pronunciation of the WLAN. It is pronounced as "double-U-lan". I apologize for misleading you.

[Torsten]

Hi Jonikru,

Many thanks for sharing your thoughts with us -- I really like your way of thinking. I totally agree with you, McDonald's offers fast food which is by far the healthiest, there must be a reason why this type of food is called junk food. Yes, McDonald's strategy is sell as much food as possible rather than concentrating on quality. Instead of trying to keep clients in their stores long, they try to get them in their stores often. That's why I was so surprised when I saw the T-Mobile/T-Com HotSpot signs at the doors of the McDonald's stores. It turned out, that every single store in Germany has now a T-Mobile Hotspot (that's more than 1000). As I mentioned earlier, I wonder why McDonald's signed this deal with T-Mobile and I think they might have a slightly different strategy in Germany than they have in the US: In Germany the coffee shop market is still pretty open.

Companies like Starbucks have only a handful of stores in the major cities. Other than that, there no coffee shop chains that have a nation wide presence.

I think McDonald's have investigated thoroughly into this and they decided to diversify into the coffee shop market in Europe. Here is what I mean: http://www.mcdonalds.ie/mccafe/index.htm

As you can see, they are trying to target a new market segment. They are hoping that many of their McCafe customers are computer literate and know how to use a laptop with a mobile Internet connection. At least, that's what I think -- otherwise why would they advertise the services of T-Mobile in all their German stores?
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Che Gevara]

Hi all
Is that right ? : )



I've never been to the US : )
_________________
Bombing for peace is like f.. for virginity

[prezbucky]

LOL, THAT IS SO WRONG! We have hot chicks too!

There's a reason Van Halen and the Beach Boys sang a song titled "California Girls".

hehe
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.