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The NYT reports that city officials say that beginning in 2015 thousands of payphones across New York City will be converted into Wi-Fi hot spots, providing free Internet access, free domestic calls using cellphones or a built-in keypad, a charging station for mobile devices and access to city services and directions. “It’s going to help us close the digital divide,” says Maya Wiley, counsel to the mayor, noting that low-income people, particularly blacks and Latinos, rely disproportionately on cellphone browsing to get online (PDF) and data charges can add up. The network will be 100 times as fast as average municipal Wi-Fi systems, so a two-hour movie can be downloaded in about 30 seconds. The kiosks’ Wi-Fi range will extend 150 feet in any direction and up to 250 devices will be able to use the network at each kiosk without diminishing service. The city hopes to install about 10,000 kiosks, each about 9.5 feet high and less than a foot wide. The first 500 CityBridge sites will be available by late 2015 to early 2016, with the construction expected to go on for six years. The contract would last for 15 years.
A successful pilot project has been in operation since 2012 but some elected officials have expressed reservations about the city’s decision to entrust the final product to CityBridge, a consortium made up of companies including Qualcomm, Comark, Control Group and Titan calling it a monopolistic arrangement. “Instead of trying to rush the process, the administration should seek a new authorizing resolution from the City Council that contemplates multiple companies,” says Letitia James, the city’s public advocate. For her part, Wiley says that she is prepared for lawsuits against the city. “In my legal opinion,” says Wiley, “this is the coolest thing ever.”
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday November 19 2014, @08:29PM
I've been working on an app for the homeless in NYC. basically we take donated smartphones, flash them, and install our app to help them find what they need, communicate, and stay connected. one of the challenges has been connectivity. we were thinking of implementing ad-hoc mesh networking a la FireChat, but this would make it much easier.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 19 2014, @08:49PM
Free and ubiquitous wifi is an enormously valuable public good, like game-changing in scope for all classes of society. But it has the potential to literally decimate the profits of the wireless phone companies so we can expect them to go full-frontal on it at a level that makes the net-neutrality fight look like a game of 3rd-grade dodgeball.