In the latest phase of its Wi-Fi strategy, AT&T will launch AT&T Wi-Fi Service in 60 McDonald's restaurants in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut beginning July 30. The service will be free until the end of August and $2.99 a day after that date.
The launch includes select McDonald's in Manhattan, Staten Island and parts of Westchester County. It also includes towns such as Edison, Middletown and Tinton Falls in New Jersey, and Danbury,
Fairfield, and Stamford, Connecticut.
The move is just AT&T's latest in the area of Wi-Fi. In December 2002, AT&T helped form Cometa Networks, a joint venture company that provides national wireless Internet access at a variety of retail locations throughout the United States. AT&T provides Wi-Fi networking services such as local access, Internet transport, network control, monitoring and management, and provisioning for Cometa, which aggregates hotspots so service providers such as AT&T can offer its customers wireless access to the Internet
and their corporate networks.
Earlier this month, AT&T announced the integration of Wi-Fi as a broadband access option for customers of AT&T's IP VPN services.
Through a business relationship with access aggregator GRIC Communications Inc., AT&T IP VPN users can get wireless access from more than 2,100 hotels, airports and convention centers in at least 20 countries.
