NEW YORK – New York City is debuting WiFi hotspots across the city today. The new pilot program will offer residents and visitors of the five boroughs access to free public WiFi using existing infrastructure the city already has in place.
"What we are doing is kind of taking the current infrastructure that we have already have, leverage it up, add few more technological advance and, frankly, with the new information age you can put so much information and pack it up into small devices," said Rahul Merchant, Citywide Chief Information and Innovation Officer.
There are ten already in use in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn and more planned in the Bronx and Staten Island. Each is located at a payphone already in use across the city with a WiFi radius of 100 to 200 feet from each kiosk.
Rachel Sterne, New York City's Chief Digital Officer, says public WiFi is the number one request from residents. The city is partnering with Titan, its largest payphone provider, and Van Wagner Communications.
"We believe deeply that New York City deserves to have great technology on the streets and the payphone franchise is an excellent way to provide that," said Scott Goldsmith, Titan's Executive Vice President.
