Taco Bell jumping on Wi-Fi bandwagon, will have free access by 2015

By Jeff Hughes Published July 6, 2011

Want a Chalupa? Want free Wi-Fi? Pretty soon you won’t have to choose between the two since Taco Bell is looking at providing Wi-Fi access in all of the chain’s restaurants. The move would allow the Mexican fast food purveyor into a realm filled with the likes of Starbucks and McDonalds.

Taco Bell Crop announced in a recent press release that it will be partnering with indoorDirect to install in-store television network as well as the free Wi-Fi in all 5,600 Taco Bells by the year 2015.

Recommended Videos

IndoorDIRECT Inc., owns the Restaurant Entertainment Network which offers offers sports segments, movie, TV and video game previews as well as shopping tips and news. Taco Bell says the network will reach 48 million taco loving customers each month.

The Restaurant Entertainment Network is the same service you will find at Carl’s Jr., KFC, Denny’s, Arby’s and other food chains. The indoorDirect company claims their REN entertains 150 million Americans annually while they dine at quick-service restaurants. Besides the television programing, Taco Bell customers will be encouraged to interact with the network by downloading music from the show, receiving opt in text messages and engage in social media campaigns.

The Mexican fast food chain is a mite late to the field, as McDonalds will have its Wi-Fi program running for at least 7 years by the time Taco Bell is done installing in 2015. McDonalds provide free Wi-Fi at 11,500 US locations. Starbucks has had free and unlimited Wi-Fi for a year, with paid Wi-Fi for customers prior to that. According to the AFP, Burger King also announced last year it will begin offering free Wi-Fi in all of its 2,200 locations in Europe, including the UK, Germany and the Netherlands.

Free Wi-Fi is a great draw for these business, much like the way movie theaters worked air conditioning to their advantage before AC was widespread. Taco Bell may be the latest to adopt this trend, but late night soft tacos and internet just seem to go so well we wonder why they didn’t jump on it sooner.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

I'm a SF Bay Area-based writer/ninja that loves anything geek, tech, comic, social media or gaming-related.

Computing

How to change margins in Google Docs

Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content --- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Computing

What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app

A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Computing

Microsoft Word vs. Google Docs

A person using a laptop that displays various Microsoft Office apps.

For the last few decades, Microsoft Word has been the de facto standard for word processors across the working world. That's finally starting to shift, and it looks like one of Google's productivity apps is the heir apparent. The company's Google Docs solution (or to be specific, the integrated word processor) is cross-platform and interoperable, automatically syncs, is easily shareable, and perhaps best of all, is free.

However, using Google Docs proves it still has a long way to go before it can match all of Word's features -- Microsoft has been developing its word processor for over 30 years, after all, and millions still use Microsoft Word. Will Google Docs' low barrier to entry and cross-platform functionality win out? Let's break down each word processor in terms of features and capabilities to help you determine which is best for your needs.
How does each word processing program compare?
To put it lightly, Microsoft Word has an incredible advantage over Google Docs in terms of raw technical capability. From relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Microsoft has added new tools and options in each successive version. Most of the essential editing tools are available in Google Docs, but users who are used to Word will find it limited.