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Keeping warm with Wi-Fi hot spots
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It's been cold the last few days. I can attest to this because this teleworker has found himself bouncing from Brooklyn Heights to Park Slope during the pre-dawn, small hours of the morning in search of Internet.
My new, hopefully temporary, residence in Park Slope lacks the essential connection to the 'Interwebs' I need to perform many daily operations - including this fine column. But I wasn't worried - I live in the greatest city in the world, New York. Surely this vast Mecca of technology and infrastructure could afford me a suitable place to work while suffering the shortcomings of my Park Slope residence, right?
Wrong.
Free Wi-Fi in New York City is a rare beast, indeed. The Parks and Recreation Department has teamed with a few different vendors, Wi-Fi Salon and NYC Wireless, to launch hot spots in selected parks - however, as of this posting 13 of the 15 park hot spots were "inactive." And as I said before, incase you haven't noticed, it's cold! Even snowing on Montague Street as of this moment.
About.com has tried to help create a Wi-Fi Location Directory, but it only further illustrates a coverage gap in NYC. Most of the free hot spots can be found, unsurprisingly, in and around NYU in Manhattan. For those of us in Brooklyn, however, it's either Starbucks for $4 per two-hour session or that rare coffee shop and/or bar.
Verizon Wireless was supposed to put fiber optics under every street in NYC, or at least make every pay phone owned by them a hot spot, but they ditched that plan shortly after announcing it in 2003. AT&T has their 3G network and their Starbucks partnership - but they own me through at least a one-year, if not two-year, contract before I can have unfettered access to their hot spots. Something has got to give.
During the next few months, given recent action by the Federal Communications Commission and the emergence of new wireless broadband technologies, I'm hopefull that I won't have this problem come next Decemeber. But in the mean time, you can find me at the Brazen Head tavern or Perch Cafe - enjoying some fine cask ale or a tall latte and some free Wi-Fi.
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