Digital Trends

A new deal with Wayport means subscribers to Boingo's network of Wi-Fi hotspots will be able to surf the net from more than 9,000 McDonald's restaurants.

Customers might be coming into McDonald's for more than the special sauce, lately: in a new deal with Wayport, subscribers to the Boingo Wi-Fi hotspot networks will be able to surf the Internet via Wi-Fi from more than 9,000 McDonald's restaurants in the United States. The deal puts the total number of hotspots accessible to Boingo subscribers over 100,000; Boingo aggregates hotspots operated by more than 150 Wi-Fi operators.

"We are very pleased to expand our long-standing roaming access relationship with Boingo to include McDonald's," said Wayport CEO Dave Vucina. "This new agreement both strengthens our commitment to our neutral host strategy as we drive incremental customers to our partner venues like McDonald's, which is a perfect digital destination based on its ubiquity and accessibility."

The deal is the second major Wi-Fi announcement for Wayport in recent days; Wayport is also the company that will operate Wi-Fi hotspots in Starbucks coffee stores when AT&T takes over operations from T-Mobile. The deals mean Boingo subscribers will be able to use Wi-Fi hotspots in both McDonald's and Starbucks stores.

Boingo access in McDonald's restaurants will begin immediately. Wayport has been operating Wi-Fi hotspots in McDonald's locations since 2004.

Boingo also announced today that it is joining the Wireless Broadband Alliance, and industry group that helps coordinate global Wi-Fi roaming amongst its members. Boingo already has roaming relationships with 14 of the Wireless Broadband Alliance's 20 member companies.