LinkNYC: 7,500 Wi-Fi Hotspots Replacing New York City Pay Phone Booths

Summary: New York City DoITT has selected CityBridge's proposal for a LinkNYC network of 7,500 Wi-Fi hotspots replacing New York City pay phone booths.

LinkNYC wi-fi booth will give new look to former pay phone landscape in New York; "Looking northwest from sidewalk at 3rd Avenue & 15th Street LinkNYC keyboard," Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, 15:45: Jim.henderson, CC BY 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

New York City pay phones are getting makeovers into LinkNYC Wi-Fi hotspots, thanks to a proposal selected by the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications from the CityBridge consortium.

Makeovers bring together “the need to preserve” city infrastructure and “the opportunity to reimagine the public terminal,” according to Jay Cassano, Brooklyn-based writer for Co. Exist. They come about after DoITT’s selection, from a worldwide pool of company proposals, of the CityBridge consortium of four companies: Comark, Control Group, Qualcomm and Titan. They deal with 7,500 of 8,200 city booths that no longer help in disasters since 37 percent of the phones are non-functioning or removed by collectors.

CityBridge expects to build a LinkNYC network.

Comark furnishes physical manufacturing expertise while Control Group, as builder of interactive information kiosks in New York City’s subway system, handles user interface and technology tasks. Qualcomm gets advisory responsibilities regarding wireless connectivity whereas Titan, as one of two principal operators of functioning standard pay phones, will watch over LinkNYC’s revenue streams.

Makeovers beginning in July 2016 have 500 booths turned into free, 150-foot (45.72-meter) radius, device-charging terminals with 311 and 911 call abilities and data-encrypting, touch-screen interfaces. Each Link is installable with an Android tablet for online access at 1,000-megabit-per-second broadband speeds, at 20 times home service speed and 100 times carrier offerings.

CityBridge judges LinkNYC as creating the United States’ fastest free municipal Wi-Fi network.

Interrupted service and slow connections keep surfacing as complaints of free public Wi-Fi networks even though CityBridge promises a two-hour high-definition movie download in 30 seconds.

CityBridge lets it be known that the upcoming LinkNYC network will allow patrons to walk-and-talk through continuous, unsevered connections from one Link terminal to the next.

The consortium mentions that LinkNYC will connect “people of various physical, financial, and technical abilities” and “all New Yorkers to the opportunities that Internet access affords.”

Scott Goldsmith, chief operating officer for Titan, notes that LinkNYC will be super-fast and super-reliable since CityBridge counts upon a “significant source of revenue” in advertising.

Advertising revenue offers coverage of costs and $500 million extra for municipal uses.

CityBridge promises that advertising displays only will be installed on Links in commercial areas since Links on residential streets will not even include the advertisement-supporting devices. The difference qualifies for sleeker, slimmer, smaller looks to Links on residential streets since the 11-inch-wide (27.96-centimeter-wide), 9.5-foot-high (2.9-meter-tall) Links in commercial areas accommodate advertising panels.

CityBridge reveals that removal of coin slots will not prevent free calling among the five boroughs, in New York State or to the other 49 states.

The four-company consortium also states that all Links, be they in commercial areas or on residential streets, will be user-accessible and user-friendly to people with disabilities.

Manufacturing Links within New York City triggers more than 100 full-time new hires.

Link kiosk in Manhattan: LinkNYC @LinkNYC, via Twitter Jan. 10, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

LinkNYC wi-fi booth will give new look to former pay phone landscape in New York; "Looking northwest from sidewalk at 3rd Avenue & 15th Street LinkNYC keyboard," Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, 15:45: Jim.henderson, CC BY 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:3rd_Av_LinkNYC_keyboard_jeh.JPG

Link kiosk in Manhattan: LinkNYC @LinkNYC, via Twitter Jan. 10, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/LinkNYC/status/686197885059395585

For further information:

Cassano, Jay. 17 November 2014. "New York City's Pay Phones Will Be Replaced By Free Wi-Fi Mobile Charging Stations." Fast Company & Inc. Labs > 3 Minute Read > Technology.
Available @ http://www.fastcolabs.com/3038678/new-york-citys-pay-phones-will-be-replaced-by-free-wi-fi-mobile-charging-stations

Complex News. 6 January 2016. "Welcome to 2016: Wi-Fi Hotspots to Replace Pay Phone Booths." YouTube.
Available @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43yoL7W7gkk

Knutson, Ryan. 5 January 2016. "New York City to Replace Pay Phones With Free Wi-Fi." The Wall Street Journal > Tech.
Available @ http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-city-to-replace-pay-phones-with-free-wi-fi-1451970003

LinkNYC @LinkNYC. 10 January 2016. "#ICYMI -- 6 Links have been installed on 3rd Ave. Still in testing. Keep an eye on our feed for updates. #NYC #wifi." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/LinkNYC/status/686197885059395585

Nicks, Denver. 5 January 2016. "NYC to Swap Pay Phones for Free Wi-Fi Hotspots." Time Inc. Network > Everyday Money > Internet.
Available @ http://time.com/money/4167740/free-wifi-hotspots-replace-pay-phones/

Peltz, Jennifer. 4 January 2016. "New York City Will Replace Pay Phones With Wi-Fi Hotspots." The Huffington Post > What's Working.
Available @ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new-york-city-will-replace-pay-phones-with-wi-fi-hotspots_568a7fece4b0b958f65c1927