New York City is replacing over 7,500 defunct phone booths with LinkNYC “access points”. The access points, that are being called Links, will broadcast free Wi-Fi for a 150 foot radius and will feature USB charging outlets, advertising, and a touchscreen browser to surf the internet, look at maps, and make free telephone calls.
The Wi-Fi signal will be up to 20 times faster than the average New York broadband connection. Pedestrians will be able to simply walk from hub to hub and maintain their free internet connection as they make their way through the city.
According to Good Magazine, the Wi-Fi hubs are projected to bring in over $500M from advertising which is how the Wi-Fi is being supplied for free.
The Links are being built and programmed by a group called CIVIQ Smartscapes (Website) which specializes in manufacturing high-performance “smart” public structures that integrate technology with the public realm.
There are a number of phone booths sitting unused in City limits that we would love to see upgraded into something like this.
Sounds great. Not sure if we have enough pedestrian traffic to sell the appropriate amount of advertising, but it would be SUPER!
Depends what the wifi is connected to, and how many are on it at once…
Not everyone has unlimited. Wifi is faster than 4g
Keith Honaker we’ll work on a map!
Tanya Tibbets, we’ll have to do a map and post it soon!
doesn’t everyone have 4G data?
What a cool idea!
There’s a MAJOR problem with this idea… Old pay phones get their power from the phone line and when the Day After Tomorrow comes we will need those powered pay phones to call our scientist dads to let them know where we’ll be book burning to stay alive.
You can call God from that phone…
The only pay phone I’ve seen still in existence in Orlando is the one in Thornton park by Anthony’s pizza…
Next they can convert old USPS mailboxes into homing beacons (if they can find any of those either)
There’s still phone booths in Orlando?
Where are there old phone booths in Orlando to be converted?