November 15, 2006

No citywide wi-fi for NYC, but Central Park in test phase

For anyone hoping New York City could be on the road to get pervasive free wi-fi, pull over.

That's the word from Paul Cosgrave, who five months ago was appointed by the mayor as commissioner of the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications. Citywide wi-fi "isn't feasible or necessary," he told the New York Sun. "I don't think there's going to be 100% Wi-Fi coverage throughout the city because it just probably not practical."

The Sun goes on to say the "city" has recently created wi-fi hotspots at Central Park and Battery Park. However, the private company WiFi Salon is actually under contract with the city parks department to provide the wireless at those parks and eight others. While the wi-fi does indeed function at Battery Park, it is still the only one of the 10 that's officially launched.

Central Park's free wi-fi is still in the testing phase and Marshall Brown, the company’s founder and CEO, today said there is no estimated date on when the rest of the network will officially launch. However, two-thirds of the park's locations are already live and undergoing tests, he told NewYorkology in an interview this morning.

Eight locations within Central Park are scheduled to get wi-fi: the Great Lawn, the Sheep Meadow, Summerstage, the Dairy and Wolman Rink, the Delacorte Theatre, The Arsenal and zoo, Merchant's Gate at Columbus Circle and the Charles A. Dana Discovery Center.

Originally, 10 city parks were slated to get Internet access from WiFi Salon by October 2005. The process has been "very frustrating," Brown said.

The city's most popular free wi-fi spot, at Bryant Park, is not a WiFi Salon project.

Earlier: Free wi-fi for Central Park delayed, still in 'soft launch'
Battery Park gets wi-fi today, Central Park in August
Free Central Park wi-fi still in the works

November 15, 2006 08:42 AM in Cheap Stuff, Downtown, Techology, Upper East Side, Upper West Side

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