McDonald’s announced over the weekend that it was to allow Wi-Fi access in 1200 of it’s UK outlets.

McDonald’s hopes to attract customers from other Wi-Fi friendly chains such as Starbucks by not charging customers a penny for access to the net. Customers will not require a password to access the network and can surf the net for free. McDonald’s claim that the average user who logs on in a rivalling coffee shop for even just an hour a week could stand to save over £250 a year.

With customers being able to access the internet from their laptops and mobile phones for as long as they want this is surely going to bring in a whole wave of online gamers and students to the chains. The company have even said that they won’t mind people sticking around for hours on end nursing a cold cup of coffee

"We would be comfortable with that. There will be no restrictions," said a spokesperson.

McDonald’s has already introduced the free scheme in 8,000 of its 13,000 outlets in the US and Cloud Networks Ltd will be working with McDonald’s to have the free service up and running in the UK by the end of the year.