(Image source: Scouting New York

 

BY EVAN THOMAS

ANCHOR LOGAN TITTLE

 

It should be pretty easy to find a Wi-Fi signal in New York City these days, thanks to a new plan to turn pay phone kiosks into free Wi-Fi hotspots .

The city will convert 10 phone booths into all-you-can-eat data hubs in the first proof-of-concept run. Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens will get the first coverage.

The New York Times explains — the timing is good. Pay phones are an aging bit of infrastructure, anyway, and their maintenance is about to run out .

“The city said 12,360 pay phones still exist on the city’s sidewalks. The maintenance and operation of the phones have been franchised out to 13 companies, but those contracts are set to expire in October 2014, raising questions about the long-term fate of the phones.”

ABC News says the booths will work like most other public hotspots , except their powerful antennas will push a signal over a much wider radius — anywhere from 100 to 300 feet.

“…the network will appear as ‘Free Wi-Fi’ or ‘NYC Free Public Wi-Fi’ on phones, laptops, tablets, and other Wi-Fi devices. The network isn't password protected, but when you launch your browser, you will be required to agree to terms and conditions before surfing the web.”

GigaOM likes the idea. It’s a practical solution to a worsening problem in cities.

“…it speaks to our addiction to Wi-Fi and data, which is now even more popular than cellular. The use of more Wi-Fi can also lessen congestion on busy cellular networks, which can get bogged down in dense cities like New York and San Francisco.”

GottaBeMobile agrees, and is happy to hear New York City has plans to expand the program.

“Now that almost everyone has some sort of smartphone or feature phone payphones serve very little purpose, and if they city and companies won’t remove them, they might as well be reused to add yet more WiFi hotspots to the city.”

The city says more booth conversions are planned for the coming months. And in the meantime, the payphones will continue to work as phones.