An October 2006 profile of McDonald's emerging Wi-Fi efforts, begun in 2003, noted that McDonald's was "trying to morph from a drive-through to a destination—a place where people go to meet and socialize or play, or even get some work-related e-mail done." Tom Gergets, director of technology and infrastructure for McDonald's U.S. operations, said in the Network World article that "people are using restaurants very differently these days as lifestyles have changed. We've really had to contemporize and create modern, relevant in-restaurant experiences." (Gergets wasn't available for an interview with CIO.com.)

Today, McDonald's has Wi-Fi-enabled more than 15,000 of its 30,000 restaurants around the globe. (To read how McDonald's gets the most from its technology vendors, see "How to Evaluate Vendor Performance.")

"They are very interested in how to draw in the consumer who may not normally go to a McDonald's who's now going to go because they can use a high-quality Internet service, for relatively inexpensive price," says Kevin McKeand, VP and general manager the hospitality, healthcare and retail divisions at Wayport, the third-party infrastructure and applications provider of McDonald's Wi-Fi service. "And while they're there, they're going to buy something. That's the objective."

The Business Case for Free Wi-Fi

So for all those business execs who now see Wi-Fi as a critical piece of the "enriching the customer experience," as is so often said, the next question becomes: Who should pay for it? At McDonald's, for instance, customers pay $2.95 for two hours of service. And many other restaurants, hotels and airports still charge for Wi-Fi connectivity today.

But that may soon have to change. A recent In-Stat report on global hotspots found that Wi-Fi service has become commonplace and customer "resistance to paying for access remains high. Over the last 12 months hotspot operators have gone through some profound changes to survive in a market where demand increases while willingness to pay for the service decreases," notes the report.

At Panera Bread, CIO Tom Kish says via e-mail that Panera has offered free Wi-Fi in all its bakery-cafes since 2003. "We were the first major concept to offer it free," he says, "and have established one of the largest free Wi-Fi networks in the U.S. with approximately 1,200 cafes providing the service."

To Kish, free Wi-Fi ties into Panera's strategy of enriching the customer experience. "We see it as another amenity for our customers," he says. "Free internet access is one of a series of Panera's innovations designed to engage, connect and support our customers."

"We believe we raised the bar in customer service by offering free Wi-Fi," he adds.

One of the more well-known studies on free Wi-Fi's effect on consumer behavior is from Free-Hotspot.com, an operator of 3,000 free hotspots in 18 European countries. The 2006 survey of more than 1,000 Wi-Fi users in six European countries found that: 84 percent of respondents said they were more willing to purchase goods and services from businesses that offered a free Wi-Fi service; almost all (96 percent) said they would return to the hotspot location because of the free Wi-Fi; and half of the Wi-Fi users surveyed came to the hotspot location specifically for the free Wi-Fi. (Due to Free-Hotspot.com's business model, the results should be taken with several grains of salt.)

To many businesses, notes Schatt, free Wi-Fi is already or will soon become seen "as just another cost of doing business and an operational expense, rather than as a profit center."

Complimentary Wi-Fi, But with a Catch

One of business owners' main arguments against offering free Wi-Fi service is simple: "You charge something so that you don't have people camping out all day and essentially taking up table space," says Schatt.