News Nyc Digital Public Reality

[anthony]

This sounds pretty damn smart for NYC, which means this will progressively travel throughout the worlds cities to become the new normal. A very smart idea...

The city has unveiled an ambitious new plan to replace all those outdated payphones with high-tech kiosks offering free, city-wide Wi-Fi at speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second. Officials say it will be the fastest and largest network of its kind in the world.

The stations, dubbed Links, will be deployed in as many as 10,000 locations across all five boroughs. Besides just providing free gigabit Wi-Fi service within a radius of 150 feet, and a seamless roaming experience from one station to the next, these modernized payphone kiosks will offer free charging for your mobile devices, and a built-in Android tablet from which you can access city services and directions.

You'll also be able to make free phone calls anywhere in the U.S., and easily access 911 emergency services. On the side of the kisosk, there's a large digital display for advertising and other public service announcements.

http://au.pcmag.com/internet-products/26186/news/nyc-payphones-to-become-gigabit-wi-fi-stations

 

[Friday]

There have been some pilot programs testing the efficacy of this concept & similar ones in small towns all over the states for the past few years. Some have simply been providing free wifi for the whole town, others in areas they want to encourage pedestrian traffic (commerce, libraries, parks, etc.). It's been pretty interesting driving all over the country past few years running into these places. In some the town itself voted to establish and fund it, in others they competed for a big-city funded grant to beta test, and in a few a local benefactor said "Dangit. Wifi for everyone!". One company-town I was in recently provided free wifi for workers only. It's been kinda fascinating looking at all the different models.

 

[Deleted member 12723]

It sure is a great service to provide for people. I am happy to hear this.

 

[anthony]

I think whilst this has a limited 150ft radius around each box, having walked through NYC... there will be plenty of homes that are in reach of that still and benefit from free wi-fi. Not so good for the ISP's I guess...