[« Thought for the Day:] [Juan Cole weighs in.... »]
06/09/2004: Playing catch up?
In an earlier post I mentioned seeing that the Southeastern based Krystals hamburger chain was going to provide free 801.11b wireless internet access to a number of its restaurants by June 30, 2004 (included in that is the Krystals on Union Avenue nearest my humble abode).
Not to be outdone by a mere upstart like Krystals, it appears that McDonald's has just done a deal with SBC allowing SBC to provide its FreedomLink wireless services in 6,000 McDonald's outlets in the U.S.
Pardon me, however, if I'm not too excited just yet. I need to get further details, but the last sentence in the story doesn't exactly inspire me to jump on the bandwagon: A monthly subscription to SBC's FreedomLink costs $19.95 (£10.80) and provides unlimited access to all of its hotspots. (Freedom isn't free; as a matter of fact it costs about $20 a month...). If I'm reading this correctly, it means that I'll have to fork over $20/month for the privilege of connecting to the 'net at Mickey D's. For that money, I'd just as soon eat at Krystals and fork over the $20 a month to Netflix. Or find some other good investment for the $20 (like seeking the Rocky Top Brigade's Holy Grail, "a good single malt Scotch whiskey for around $20").
Len on 06.09.04 @ 09:17 AM CST
