NYC says Goodbye to the Pay Phone and Hello to Gigabit Wi-fi
More than thirty years ago, the Federal Communications Commission approved the first commercial portable cellular phone in the United States. A decade later, during the 1990’s, the second generation cellular phone system materialized. As the industry rapidly developed cellular, smartphones have become the number one source for communication. Yet according the U.S. Census Bureau three million households do not have access to a cellphone or a landline, much less, a Gigabit Wi-Fi connection.
Once numbering above 2.2 million in the year 2000, the coin operated pay phone has dropped to less than three hundred thousand. Only a fraction of the population still use these coin operated pay phones. These pay phones are still located on street corners, train stations, and public buildings. While prone to theft, vandalism and damage,although antiquated they are still in supply in various metropolitan cities. Finally, with the introduction to Gigabit Wi-fi, that is about to change.
New York City under the de Blasio Administration, awarded CityBridge the contractual initiative to repurpose payphone infrastructure with free Wi-Fi, phone calls and advertising. LinkNYC forecasts to create hundreds of new full time and support jobs but at a cost of over two hundred million dollars. CityBridge will compensate the city of New York with its profits from advertising on the billboard kiosk.
Collin Odonell, managing member of CityBridge, said in a press briefing.”It’s really the first of this kind of network and it’s going to transform the streets and people’s way to access information.”
While many cities have tried and failed in installing free public Wi-Fi, these failures were due to poor implementation, and slow download speeds. Breaking ground with the first hundred kiosks earlier this year with over 7000 left. LinkNYC will forge ahead first in a beta phase, these fiber network built hotspots will deliver gigabit speeds. With privacy concerns about networking smartphones and other devices to a public network, CityBridge states data will be encrypted as information gathered for advertising is anonymous.
The installation of Gigabit Wi-fi stations has begun
Over the next several months at least 510 gigabit Links will be installed across all 5 boroughs by July 2016, reported by LinkNYC. Each individual “Link” will withstand various weather conditions and theft to ADA standards. Inside will have free USB charging ports, a direct red 911 call button, and opt-in location services. The entire LinkNYC network will replace a coin operated pay phone booth across all five boroughs in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island.
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