When was the last time you used a New York City pay phone? I don’t know about you but the last time I used one was 15 years ago. Apparently what was once a profitable telecommunications business for the city has been steadily decreasing as more people have converted to the convenience of using their cell phones. Realizing this and responding to the large population of people who own smart phones, the city has decided the best way to utilize the 12,000 phone booths in the city is by installing free wifi hotspots. It recently launched a pilot program and currently has 10 booths around the 5 boroughs that provide this service. The WiFi signal will stretch approximately 200 feet and will have no limits in terms of bandwidth or frequency of usage for users. This will be beneficial to people who have limited 3G or 4G connectivity due to data limitations set by their service providers. Eventually, the city is planning to install digital kiosks with SmartScreens. The touchscreens will display interactive hyper-local neighborhood information, including details about restaurants, stores, and safety alerts. There will also be a 311 icon that allows users to access City information and file complaints.
Currently, no advertising will appear when a user tries to access the free wifi, but I’m sure that will change over time. Eventually they’ll have to entertain the idea of incorporating advertisers into this scheme in order to raise revenue for this free service.
1 comment:
Seems like a great advertising opportunity, especially for location-based advertising - hard to fake location when you have to be physically close to the booth to access the wifi signal...
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