How to use McDonald's Wifi

Recently McDonald's has become my favorite place to study. I always liked to study there because of the free coffee refills, but now after finally setting up my computer to work with their wifi, it's become my main studying location. It's great because I don't like studying at home, there are McDonald's everywhere, and I'm able to keep my Anki deck synced over the Internet as well as be able to copy and paste definitions quickly from online dictionaries. The process of signing up for McDonald's wifi is a bit strange but convenient and somehow also convoluted. I thought it might be something that would interest you guys.

The wifi that McDonald's uses is Yahoo! BB Mobile Point. The instructions are here, but I'll summarize in English.

Step 1: Go to a FamilyMart convenience store. They have a machine there called the Famiポート (FamiPort). Push the button that says "プリペイド"(Prepaid). It's a green button with the ￥ symbol on it.

Yeah, that's the one

Step 2: Push the button that says "インターネット電話/無線LAN"(Internet Telephone/Wifi). You'll see it has the Yahoo!BB logo inside.

Like so

Now it'll give you an option to either do this in English or Japanese.

Step 3: Select how much time you'd like to buy. There are three different lengths: 1 Day = ￥500, 2 Weeks = ￥1000, and 3 Months = ￥4000.

Step 4: After you select and confirm, it will print a receipt. Take that receipt and pay at the register. They will print out and give you your username and password info.

Step 5: Next you need to activate your username and password which strangely involves already needing Internet access. A mobile phone is fine. Follow the instructions on the form they gave you which involves going to http://www.bbmp.jp. Click on the link to validate your ID and agree to the terms. It should now automatically open your email program. Just send them a blank email to their address (activatee@bbmp.jp), or put SBTM in subject and body if you can't send blank emails. You should immediately receive a reply with a link. Click the link and input your Serial No. and Confirmation Code and submit. After that it should say you're successfully activated.

Step 6: Finally go to McDonald's with your computer, login to the "mobilepoint" network using the WEP key from your username and password sheet, open a web browser and put in your username and password. And you're done! Now study, enjoy your coffee, and try to take it easy on the fries.