What happens when you turn every payphone into a Wi-Fi hotspot?

Citizens and visitors of the Big Apple, will have one more reason to call New York City, the “City that never sleeps”. A new program, announced by city officials, is moving ahead with the replacement of 6000 payphones, with Wi-Fi hotspots, providing free Internet access to residents and visitors of New York City. The plan doesn’t stop at the existing 6000 payphones, as the addition of 1500 more hotspots will follow, in those areas where coverage will be a bigger concern.

A link to an interactive map featuring the expected coverage, once all kiosks are in place can be found here [link].

Each new booth will not only feature a Wi-Fi access point, but also a fully operational information booth, complete with touchscreen, USB charging ports for all devices, including smartphones, tablets and smaller laptops, as well as digital advertising.

The timeline to complete this project, recently awarded to CityBridge, is 12 years, with a minimum of 510 access points to be operational a year and half from the start of the works, and a minimum of 4500 to be built within 4 years. Considering that many of these kiosks will be ad-supported, there is every indication that mobile users will start enjoying the new infrastructure very soon.

Last year, Maya Wiley, counsel of New York mayor Bill De Blasio, was quoted by the New York Daily News, saying:

“We're expanding the infrastructure into communities that have not had enough (Wi-Fi) availability. It's a good incremental step. No, it's not everything, but we're going to get more,"