Good news for the New Yorkers as free internet will be almost anywhere as more than 30 NYC parks are being transformed into Wi-Fi hotspots. Anyone may bring their smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other Wi-Fi enables devices and get connected outdoors.
All Cablevision and Time Warner Cable broadband subscribers have unlimited free internet connection any time of the day and any day of the week. Non-subscribers can still enjoy free 30 minutes of internet every 30 days but can also avail unlimited Wi-FI for only 99 cents a day.
Some of the participating parks are the Central Park, 14th Street, Thomas Paine, Tompskins Square, Madison Square, and 42nd Street-Bryant. You may visit the City of New York Parks & Recreation website to get a full view of the hotspots in the city. The website will tell you which parks offer free and limited free internet connection. AT&T is also one of the providers that are giving Wi-Fi access to all users at all times free of charge.
In Bronx, St. Mary’s has the most number of hotspots with seven scattered in the area. Brooklyn’s Manhattan Beach Park has 15 powered by Cablevision, Manhattan’s Jackie Robinson Park has 8 limited free by TimeWarner, Queen’s Baisley Pond has 20 from TimeWarner too which is the widest in the entire NYC, and finally Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Staten Island which has 6 hotspots from TimeWarner.
There were some areas though that only has one hotspot for each park such as Devoe, Fort Greene, Union Square, Astoria, Clove Lakes, and 19 others.
The city is still negotiating with the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications of further expansions.
"With NYC Parks Wi-Fi we're further transforming New York City into a hub for connectivity and extending the reach of broadband citywide," Citywide Chief Information and Innovation Officer Rahul Merchant said in a statement.
This project of providing free internet access to the public is part of Mayor Bloomberg's Digital Roadmap which will be maintained until 2020.
