New York City's Wi-Fi kiosks have provided users with $15 million worth of free internet service

The 934 Link kiosks that dot the New York City landscape have provided a ton of free data to New Yorkers. The kiosks started operations early last year, and since that time period over one petabyte of data has been employed by mobile device owners in the Big Apple. Based on current rates, that is equivalent to more than $15 million of broadband internet connectivity that has been received for free in New York City.

To give you a better idea of how much data that is, one petabyte is equivalent to one million gigabytes. The amount of data that New Yorkers have used, thanks to the kiosks, is the equivalent of 10.9 billion emails or 1.1 million hours of streamed video. The LinkNYC kiosk locations include 627 units in Manhattan, 108 in Queens, 102 in Brooklyn, 68 in the Bronx, and 29 on Staten Island.

The kiosks are a creative way to make use of the payphone booths that were made obsolete with the growing use of smartphones. With 20% of New Yorkers living in an area without internet service, the kiosks provide the only way for many in the city to enjoy a broadband internet connection.


Each kiosk features a pair of screens that run paid advertisements. A USB port allows users to charge up their handset or tablet, and an attached Android tablet gives those without their own mobile device, an opportunity to surf the web, check emails, etc. The Wi-Fi signal provides broadband connectivity within a 150-foot range from the kiosk.

source: NYDailyNews