The city’s payphones are about to start pulling double-duty as wireless hotspots.
Officials unveiled a pilot program Wednesday that will transform some of the city’s thousands of aging payphone kiosks into wireless hubs, offering free, unlimited Internet access for smartphones, laptops and other wireless devices.
“One of the No. 1 things that we hear, that Mayor Bloomberg hears when he’s speaking with New Yorkers, is that they want more public WiFi,” said Rachel Sterne, the city’s Chief Digital Officer, who joined officials on the pedestrian plaza at the corner of West 58th Street and Broadway, near Columbus Circle, where one of the 10 initial hubs is placed.
Powered by “military grade antennas,” which are affixed directly to the tops of kiosks and feed off their power, the hotspots’ signals stretch about 100 to 300 feet, said Peter Izzo, senior operations executive at payphone operator Van Wagner, which is providing the $2,000 a-pop service for free.
The rollout is part of a larger effort by the city to determine the future of its payphones, which many complain are out-of-date. The city also issued a Request for Information Wednesday seeking suggestions about the potential payphone of the future and the features it might include.
The 10 initial locations are:
Manhattan:
402 West Broadway
458 Seventh Avenue
28 West 48th Street
410 Madison Avenue
1609 Broadway
1790 Broadway
230 West 95th Street
Brooklyn:
545 Albee Square
2 Smith Street
Queens:
30-94 Steinway St.
Additional locations, including the Bronx and Staten Island, are expected to be up and running soon. Users can log on by selecting “Free WiFi/NYC Free Public WiFi” on their mobile devices.
This is way to modern for us!
First the printing press (like someone mentioned), then phones, then cell phones now This!!!! Free wifi?!! I cannot believe we are just letting the world keep modernizing like this. We should all move to Amish town.
Its great for FaceTime!!!
this is the reality. Its gonna hit CH sooner or later. stop burying your head in the sand. We gotta live with the times. we gotta face this generations nisyonos. And We gotta realize we are stronger than the internet. “Ain Hakodosh BH Boh bitrunyah…” strengthen yourselves, My freinds, we are getting ready to take on the enemy at blank-point. Chevra, this is a war against Hashem Vetorasoh . And we are fighting on his side. Gear up and get out there. We’re gonna win this war. And soon! The Rebbe already said the war is almost over. We just… Read more »
Not since the invention of the printing press have we seen something like the internet so impactful in expanding yiddishkeit & learning. Why do we “fear” the internet. Torah is emmes, and if we truly embrace Torah, shouldn’t it guide us past the bad content on the internet and allow us to use the internet for good like learning? The more we feel like we have to push the internet away, the more we invalidate the true nature of Torah. We need to teach our children proper internet usage. There is no sort-cuts to proper parenting.
I actually am happy with this as it can get scary when your gps cuts out while you are traveling in an unfamiliar area- telling people to stay off the internet is useless- telling people how to navigate it is what we need
Something Condescending pessimistic and ignorant in the comments
Now we know where are kids are..
It should be with filter in CH
so now people will use the internet on the streets, versus in starbucks or at home…
time to make a big deal over “internet oyyyy”?
seriously!
let them be bizzy making sure boropark willamsburg and all heavily frum populated areas do not get this new addition to their payphones…
Great – just what we don’t need – to make the internet even more accessible to all….Is there no seichel left in the world?
oy gevalt!!!