Gigabit WiFi is finally being installed in New York
The plan to give phone booths a second life as Gigabit WiFi hotspots all around New York has been in the plan for some time now, as it was announced around November 2014. Now, the city is finally delivering their promise as workers have been busy installing the hotspots all around New York recently. The city of New York would update the standard phone booth to include upgraded infrastructure that would provide the Gigabit WiFi network residents and tourists. The pictures of the installation were spotted outside a small Starbucks at 15th St and 3rd Avenue, which is near Manhattans Union Square. More installations will be made throughout the city by mid-July. These LinkNYC hubs will undergo one or two weeks of testing before New York residents and tourists will have access.
Once the network is fully installed, there will be more than 7,500 public Gigabit WiFi hubs throughout the city, and each unit would replace a pre-existing phone booth. The hubs would include USB ports for easy device charging, a touchscreen web browser, and two 55-inch advertising displays. New York estimates that more than $500 Million USD will be created in revenue over the next 12 years. The LinkNYC project has had a lot of controversy over the recent months, as a report by the Daily News claimed that outer-Brooklyn and Bronx internet hubs were outputting 10x slower speeds than the ones located in Manhattan. Additionally, one of the companies called Titan who was also involved with making the hubs allegedly installed Bluetooth beacons in the test hubs. That could lead to track pedestrians and serve ads to the user. After that information was made public, Titan removed the beacons shortly after.
As mentioned above, the LinkNYC initiative was launched in 2014, and claimed begin construction "next year." With the installation of the first hub earlier this week, it seems as though they are keeping with that promise. Other admitting of the hubs will be available sometime soon, such as the touchscreen tablet and more. Do you think that replacing the old phone booths as new Gigabit WiFi hotspots is a good thing or bad thing, let us know in the comments below or on any of our social media pages! Via: | The Verge | Source: | No source available |
