A study, which was conducted over a one month period across all of the McDonald’s locations in Belgium, showed that the free HotSpots attracted on average around 11 users per day during the week and 14 users per day at weekends. These figures rank at almost 7 times higher than the average user rates reported at McDonald’s one year earlier. The HotSpot visitor figures were collected through free-hotspot.com’s own monitoring system, which tracks anonymous user data.

After accepting McDonald's standard ‘Terms of Service’ for using the Wi-Fi, customers can make full use of the Internet, just as they would at home or in the office: surf the web, check their email, download music, play online games etc. Vanonckelen comments on user habits: “Most users surf the Internet in the early morning or late afternoon. Users include students checking their email, youngsters playing games with their Internet-enabled devices, or businessmen having a working breakfast. But the priority around lunchtime remains eating, which is actually perfect for us, as outside rush hours the restaurants are quieter and that is exactly when we need to attract more clientele. User stats clearly show an impressive increase in traffic into the restaurants; I can confirm that we certainly made the right decision by switching to free-hotspot.com.”

Joe Brunoli, Vice President, Business Development for free-hotspot.com says: “We are pleased to see that a growing number of customers now use the free Internet connection at McDonald's Belgium. The survey also showed that people are planning to return to McDonald’s more often to make use of the free Wi-Fi service. This just goes to show that free Wi-Fi truly is a value-added service for the company.”

The full survey is available upon request. Please contact the press department below for more information.

The McDonald's Belgium locations that offer free Wi-Fi can be found at www.mcdonalds.be or by using the online free HotSpot directory at www.free-hotspot.com.

About McDonald's:
McDonald's is the largest fast food chain in the world, with more than 30,000 McDonald's restaurants serving more than 48 million customers each day in more than 100 countries. More than 70% of McDonald's restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent local entrepreneurs; in Belgium, 21 franchisees manage 55 of the 57 McDonald's restaurants across the country. With over 25 million customers served each year, McDonald's Belgium and its franchisees stay in touch with their customers and their co-workers to ensure that McDonald's remains one of the most popular places to dine out in Belgium.

Press contacts:
Kristel Muls
McDonald’s Belgium
P.R. & Communications Supervisor
Phone: + 32 2 716 04 40

Molly Verbeeck
Porter Novelli
Phone: + 32 2 413 03 40
e-mail: molly.verbeeck@porternovelli.be

About free-hotspot.com:
free-hotspot.com operates the Europe’s largest free Wi-Fi Internet service network with over 3,500 FREE HotSpot locations in 18 countries throughout Europe. To gain access to free-hotspot.com’s free wireless Internet service, users agree to watch an introductory Sponsor advertisement. This innovative system, which has won the prestigious Wireless Broadband Innovation Award for Best Public Wi-Fi Product, is made available under the EDGE Messaging brand name to wireless network operators as well as hospitality chains and other organisations that wish to increase revenue, promote strategic marketing programmes or build brand presence over their own Wi-Fi networks.

free-hotspot.com supports an active user community and provides free wireless Internet service to more than 600,000 people each month. The company also operates the industry’s most comprehensive directory of free HotSpots, which currently lists more than 5,000 free wireless Internet locations throughout Europe.

To learn more about the free HotSpot programme or to find the free hotspot nearest you, please visit: www.free-hotspot.com

Press contacts:

free-hotspot.com
Emma Keenan / Johanna Toiviainen
Open2Europe
Phone: +33 1 55 02 14 59 / 58
e-mail: e.keenan@open2europe.com or j.toiviainen@open2europe.com