Word has been getting out over the past few days that McDonalds Australia are planning to offer free WiFi in 720 of their restaurants nationwide.

The WiFi network, which will use the Telstra Next IP network, will be largely based on converting current paid hotspots to free ones in a staged rollout to be completed by March 09.

Internet sessions will not be time-constrained but will have a 50MB limit applied. On top of that, there are unconfirmed rumours that users get 30 minutes free usage after watching an ad at makeupyourownmind.com.au and answering a question correctly. The rumour goes on to say that the questions are fairly simple, like:

• How many delicious flavours of sunday toppings do we serve?
• In 25-50 words, which Mc Donalds menu item do you like best and why?

In my mind, however, the likelihood of that rumour being correct is low as it would limit the kinds of devices that could  easily take advantage of the network, in particular things like smart phones using the network for email access, and to be honest, the benefits of providing free WiFi go way beyond having people watch your ads when they’re actually in your store already, so why would you bother?

As part of the whole process it also looks like Maccas has somehow partnered with free WiFi location website, Free Wifi. The site was one of the first to have the announcement and they now have a comprehensive listing of which Maccas are free and which are stilled paid.

On top of that, word on the street is that pamphlets speaking about the new free WiFi are appearing in individual McDonalds in preparation for when they make the switch and that those official pamphlets are pointing people to freewifi.com.au for more info.

So far there are already 12 stores (all in or around Sydney) listed as now being free including, interestingly, the Carlingford Food Court. It’s interesting because it shows that they won’t be limiting the service to areas that only sell their food.

Those 12 stores are listed below and you can keep an eye on further updates (apparently 8 more will go free by COB tomorrow) by checking out the list at Free WiFi HERE.

• McDonald’s Carlingford Food Court (Cafe/Eatery)
• McDonald’s Castle Towers (Cafe/Eatery)
• McDonald’s Castle Hill (Cafe/Eatery)
• McDonald’s Cremorne (Cafe/Eatery)
• McDonald’s Gladesville (Cafe/Eatery)
• McDonald’s Mt Colah (Cafe/Eatery)
• McDonald’s Northmead (Cafe/Eatery)
• McDonald’s Westmead (Cafe/Eatery)
• McDonald’s St Ives (Cafe/Eatery)
• McDonald’s Stanmore (Cafe/Eatery)
• McDonald’s Thornleigh (Cafe/Eatery)

It’s a nice move by McDonalds and hopefully will kickstart the widespread availability of free wifi by forcing competitors to keep up.