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 A Link at Third Avenue and 16th Street in Manhattan | |
| Founded | November 7, 2014 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | New York City, New York, U.S. |
Area served | New York metropolitan area |
| Brands | LinkNYC |
| Services | Wireless communication |
| Owner | Intersection (CityBridge consortium) Qualcomm CIVIQ Smartscapes |
| Website | link |
LinkNYC is an infrastructure project providing free Wi-Fi service in New York City. The office of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the plan on November 17, 2014, and the installation of the first kiosks, or "Links," started in late 2015. The Links replace the city's network of 9,000 to 13,000 payphones, a contract for which expired in October 2014. The LinkNYC kiosks were devised after the government of New York City held several competitions to replace the payphone system. The most recent competition, in 2014, resulted in the contract being awarded to the CityBridge consortium, which comprises Qualcomm; Titan and Control Group, which now make up Intersection; and Comark.
All of the 9.5-foot-tall (2.9 m) Links feature two 55-inch (140 cm) high-definition displays on their sides; Android tablet computers for accessing city maps, directions, and services, and making video calls; two free USB charging stations for smartphones; and a phone allowing free calls to all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The Links also provide the ability to use calling cards to make international calls, and each Link has one button to call 9-1-1 directly. Since 2022, CityBridge has also installed 32-foot-tall (9.8 m) poles under the Link5G brand, which provide both Wi-Fi and 5G service.
The project brings free, encrypted, gigabit wireless internet coverage to the five boroughs by converting old payphones into Wi-Fi hotspots where free phone calls could also be made. As of 2020[update], there are 1,869 Links citywide; eventually, 7,500 Links are planned to be installed in the New York metropolitan area, making the system the world's fastest and most expansive. Intersection has also installed InLinks in cities across the UK. The Links are seen as a model for future city builds as part of smart city data pools and infrastructure.
Since the Links' deployment, there have been several concerns about the kiosks' features. Privacy advocates have stated that the data of LinkNYC users can be collected and used to track users' movements throughout the city. There are also concerns with cybercriminals possibly hijacking the Links, or renaming their personal wireless networks to the same name as LinkNYC's network, in order to steal LinkNYC users' data. In addition, prior to September 2016, the tablets of the Links could be used to browse the Internet. In summer 2016, concerns arose about the Link tablets' browsers being used for illicit purposes; despite the implementation of content filters on the kiosks, the illicit activities continued, and the browsers were disabled.