McDonald's announced that 75 of its restaurants throughout the New York Tri-State area will provide high-speed wireless Internet access, giving customers with wireless computers and handheld devices high-speed Internet service. The service will be free during the month of August 2003 and US$2.99 a day thereafter.

McDonald's is the first quick service restaurant to offer high-speed wireless access in a major market. Of the 75 sites, 60 are live today with additional sites to come. McDonald's is leveraging its many convenient locations for the growing number of wi-fi users in the Tri-State area, which includes thousands of mobile professionals, business travelers and students who need to connect to work, family and friends while on-the-go. The pilot program is the second of three major metropolitan wi-fi tests McDonald's will launch this summer. By the end of this year, several hundred McDonald's restaurants in the NY Tri-State area, Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area will offer wireless service.

The announcement of this new service represents the next phase in its wi-fi initiative, designed to make wireless access as popular as a McDonald's hamburger itself.

To enhance the end users' wireless experience and enable inter-operability, all McDonald's wi-fi restaurants are verified with Intel Centrino(R) mobile technology.

A complete list of McDonald's restaurants with wireless access in the New York Tri-State area can be found at the link below.