OLD TOWN – Call it burgers and fries and Wi-Fi.

An area McDonald’s restaurant is the latest business to begin offering wireless Internet access to customers.

The idea behind wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi, is to allow people to bring their laptops along while they sip a cup of coffee or gobble a Big Mac.

And people without a laptop capable of wireless access shouldn’t worry. Doug and Linda Quagliaroli, owners of the McDonald’s on Stillwater Avenue, said last week they have created a library room with two computers for customers to use.

The access is free and high-speed, according to Doug Quagliaroli.

Wireless service is generally faster and more reliable than Internet connections that rely on telephone lines.

“There’s no financial payback [for us], but it’s kind of making your business more relevant to today’s life,” he said. “It’s a customer service.”

The library room is “very, very different,” he said. A quiet room for customers 18 and older, it’s decked out with couches, a desk, an Oriental rug and a bookshelf lining one wall. Though not quite finished, the room eventually will have pictures of University of Maine alumni on the walls.

“The wireless itself – it’s just been amazing how many people will come in in the afternoon and have a cup of coffee or a small bite to eat while they work,” Doug Quagliaroli said.

People frequently work through their lunch hours. By offering wireless Internet service at the restaurant, the business owners say, people have a place to get away from the office or school yet they can continue working.

Wireless Internet service has grown exponentially in the past two years. Downeast.net provided a location in downtown Ellsworth in early 2003 that it claimed was Maine’s first “hot spot” with high-speed wireless access available to the general public. Libraries and schools are already offering such service.

Borders on Bangor Mall Boulevard has been offering wireless service to its customers for about a year.

“During a normal week we’ve got at least a couple of people a day in our cafe using the wireless capabilities,” said Gibran Graham, the store’s corporate and educational sales representative.

Borders has a contract at the corporate level with communications company T-Mobile to offer the service, but people without their own T-Mobile accounts can access the Web. “There is a trial offer,” Graham said. “If you come in with your laptop with your wireless modem you should be able to log onto the T-Mobile Web site and register.”

Access codes for the free one-day pass are available at the store.

Not all Borders stores are wireless, but many of them are, Graham said.

For business travelers, the Hampton Inn, Bangor Mall Boulevard, also has gone wireless this month.

“A lot of guests weren’t making reservations because we only had dial-up. We didn’t have high-speed” Internet access, said Josh Harvey, guest service agent at the inn.

He said the inn went with a local service provider rather than using a larger company.

“The service is excellent,” Harvey said. “The customers love it.”

The Hampton Inn is primarily used as a business stop and does not see as many vacation travelers as some other hotels in the area. There is no cost for visitors, and the codes to access the Web are available at check-in.

“They love it, honestly,” he said. “They’re able to check in and take care of their business.”