With Google transforming payphones in New York into free WiFi hotspots, fast wireless internet connectivity could soon become a part of every city’s common infrastructure.
Those of us who grew up in the 90s will remember making calls from “ticky boxes” which were conveniently placed in streets, schools, malls and other common areas. This was phased out as cellphones became more and more popular, and street payphones turned into anachronisms within modern society. In the United States, however, payphones are being converted into free WiFi hotspots. The conversion project, a partnership between Google and the City of New York, will replace over 7,000 payphones with newly designed payphones equipped with WiFi, phone services and advertising space. Although the internet will be free, companies in the five New York boroughs will charge for phone calls but analysts argue that few citizens will choose to make a phone call over sending a free message over wi-fi powered platforms such as Whatsapp.
Google is set to provide their fast 1Gb internet service to other cities in the United States, including Atlanta, Phoenix and Salt Lake City. The new ISP division of the Silicon Valley giant already retails their services to Kansas City and has plans to provide internet services to American and European markets in order to increase connectivity, and access to their various services and advertisements.
Perhaps it may seem like such initiatives will take some time to reach South Africa, but there are projects underway to expand and upgrade our existing network, which proves that we are not too far behind. Last year, technology company Connected Space announced a collaboration between them and the City of Cape Town in a project which aims to provide free wireless access in the Mother City.
We are growing accustomed to having free WiFi hotspots in cafes, restaurants and hotels but the trend may turn into the provision of wireless internet all over our cities. Wireless internet access is fast becoming a part of the infrastructure of towns and cities, reflecting that it is an essential communication tool. In the future, the internet could be a freely distributed service available to everybody.