Filthy, broken phone booths that look like totem poles, will now be transformed into something sleek, clean, safe, informative, timely, fun, and most of all, hard-wire connected to the Internet and Wi-Fi, FAST.
LinkNYC is a first-of-its-kind communications network that will bring the fastest available municipal Wi-Fi to millions of New Yorkers, small businesses, and visitors. The five-borough LinkNYC network, which will be funded through advertising revenues, will be built at no cost to taxpayers and will generate more than $500 million in revenue for the City over the first 12 years. The Links will supply free, high-speed Wi-Fi Internet to anyone within about 150 feet of the converted phone booths. Links will also provide free calls to anywhere in the US and rapid USB charging. They can also be used to call 911 for emergency services and 311 for non-emergency services. Links are designed to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
LinkNYC will require more than 500 miles of fiber optic cable to provide high-speed broadband throughout the five boroughs. That is enough cable to go from New York to Boston and back.
CityBridge team member Dave Etherington has received inquiries from around the world, spanning all of the way to Australia, about how to implement something like LinkNYC in their cities.
The 10-foot tall, 11-inch wide kiosks is what the initiative is calling “Links,” should have a big impact beyond aesthetics. They will really change the city-scape but also really connect the city’s citizens. The old payphones aren’t vanishing all at once. The entire LinkNYC rollout will take four years, and payphones will remain in New York until it is complete.
sources: link.nyc; cnet.com; huffingtonpost.com