LinkNYC Means the Fastest, Free Wi-Fi, All Over New York City

New York City is leaping ahead of the rest of the country with a plan that’s just now starting service to install free Wi-Fi kiosks all over the city that provide the fastest internet, eight times as fast as the average apartment served by Time Warner Cable.   It’s an exciting time in the Big Apple as people begin to see what life has been like in Finland and Korea–downloading movies in 45 seconds and hitting website in milliseconds.

The whole project, called LinkNYC, is being sponsored by advertising on the kiosks which will be placed where 500 pay-phones used to stand. A slim stainless steel structure will house a screen, three USB charging plugs, and emit the powerful signal, at blazing speed. They’ve even set up the system so you can download a file to your iPhone and never have to log in and know a password again, called Passpoint.

Some people are skeptical about security. Mark Wuergler, of Immunity Inc, told the Wall Street Journal that he thinks hackers will quickly try to hack the NYC system, “it’s too big of a trophy.”   But CityBridge, the firm contracted to build the system say they have many experts working around the clock to keep it safe. A tip from Wuergler is to avoid filling out any online forms if the website they are on is not HTTPS, which you can see in the address bar.