In 2016, the city rolled out its program to update connection and the city’s outdated payphone system throughout the five boroughs. After two years, the initiative is gaining even more traction, expanding rapidly across the city.
So does city wide free wifi mean the end of Verizon and AT&T? Not quite. Kate Blumm, Assistant Commissioner at the NYC Department of Information Technology explains that, “it’s just one piece of the mayor’s larger plan to bring affordable high-speed internet to every New Yorker by 2025.”
On their website, the Department of Information Technology & Telecommunications explains further,
“LinkNYC is a first-of-its-kind communications network that will bring the fastest available free public Wi-Fi to millions of New Yorkers, small businesses, and visitors. Built at no cost to taxpayers, the five-borough LinkNYC network will, through advertising proceeds, generate more than $500 million in revenue for the City over the initiative’s first 12 years. Granted a franchise by the City in 2014, CityBridge will administer construction of the LinkNYC network. By replacing the aging network of public pay telephones with state-of-the-art Links, CityBridge will transform the physical streetscape, enhance New Yorkers’ access to information, and create new local jobs for the development, servicing and maintenance of the structures.”
Links are connection points that use wireless technology and each Link structure features: 24/7 free encrypted Wi-Fi, free phone calls to anywhere in the U.S. and a USB charger for free mobile device usage among many other exciting features.
Have you used one of the Link stations across the city?
Featured image: bloomburg.com