AT&T ’s latest idea is actually kind of brilliant on multiple levels : whole free Wi - Fi in Times Square . And it could be how they save their web .
It ’s no coincidence that AT&T already runs the largest Wi - Fi web in the country—20,000 hotspot in all — providing free Wi - Fi ( to AT&T client ) in the kind of places that mass like to string up out and gobble datum on their phones : Starbucks , Barnes & Noble , and McDonald ’s . The Times Square Wi - Fi project is a pilot course of study , and depending on the outcome , possibly the first of many dense , high - traffic urban region AT&T blankets in Wi - Fi .
Upfront , it ’s good publicity , with AT&T hit major hob points from folks for furnish a lawfully utile service for free in a arrant location : Times Square is highly visible , a perpetually throbbing , pulsing throng of humanity , mostly wafting through like a concrete lazy river . And it ’s largely holidaymaker , who you could imagine shout “ ooooooOOO ! free internet ! ” as they glisten , unaccustomed to walking distances great than the length of a parking great deal , upon find AT&T ’s open Wi - Fi web in the north central section of Times Square , near seventh Avenue between 45th and 47th Street .
A immense mass of people . Well know watershed . Oh yes , and the AT&T overhaul there is crap , as it is in many extremely trafficked areas of New York .
Which bring us to the why : Because , rather of M and thousands of people at the same time uploading their awesome photos or videos to Facebook or YouTube or wherever to share — gigs and gig of data — over AT&T ’s bruise , engorged cellular internet , they can habituate loose Wi - Fi , offloading traffic and reducing the melodic phrase on the internet thousands of other mass are trying to make phone calls over .
AT&T would be missing a huge opportunity if they failed to leverage Wi - Fi in a significant way , building their Wi - Fi connection out to every immense , engorged public space they can receive . In New York , half of my call fail in Union Square . Offloading traffic to a disjoined Wi - Fi web would n’t altogether empty the cell web crush in these superpacked areas , but it would gravely assist , if these networks were promoted and maintained correctly . That is , masses have it off about them , and they were speedier than using the 3 G internet ( since pep pill would be the incentive to use them ) . Their own numbers bear this out : AT&T suffice up 53.1 million Wi - Fi link in the first three months of this class , over 500 percent outgrowth from a twelvemonth ago . Where would they rather have all that traffic ? On the cell meshwork , or on Wi - Fi ?
True , Wi - Fi networks would introduce their own maintenance issues , but they would be cheaper and sluttish than make and tuning new mobile phone tower , particularly in places that might already be stack to the brim with towers , as many of these areas likely are . ( The succeeder of muni Wi - Fi in a few places suggest the economy of the idea . )
It ’s a pair of fabulous , uncheerful ironies : The way to save AT&T ’s mesh is by restrain us off of it . And the applied science to make unnecessary it is not some Modern R&D find , but a technology that even Grandma ’s pay off . [ AT&T , Image viajliba / Flickr ]
AT&TInternetnew yorkTimes SquareWifi
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , science , and finish news program in your inbox day by day .
tidings from the future tense , redeem to your present .
You May Also Like
