Thursday, November 5, 2009

Verizon FIOS WIFI Plan Like Nothing Else Coming To Roosevelt Island - Parks, Bus/Tram Signals and Endless Possibilities

Bryant Park Wi-Fi Image From New York Portraits

RIOC Director Jonathan Kalkin Tweeted:
Met with Verizon team to start FIOS Roosevelt Island plan like no place else. Park/Island Fiber WIFI. Net powered Bus/Tram signs!
I asked Mr. Kalkin for additional details and he responded:
... I had a meeting at RIOC with one of Verizon's top executives. I had previously contacted their VP about a comprehensive fiber high speed internet plan for the island. The meeting was very successful. We are developing a plan to offer high speed free fiber WIFI in the parks and possibly common areas of the island. This will also power the GPS LED time clocks for the Red Buses (so you can see when the next bus is arriving). As you know you can currently access this on an IPhone or Blackberry or internet phone/computer via NEXTBUS.COM. We even discussed high speed internet to power LCD signs at the Tram to indicate when the next Tram/Bus is arriving. Southpoint Park WIFI internet would also be part of the plan and camera security powered by the same system. Also all island businesses vacant or not will be FIOS ready. They are deploying a team specifically to work on this and the possibilities seem endless. Really nothing like it and it will put us back at the forefront of technology.
Roosevelt Island at the forefront of public use of modern technology. Who would have thunk that?

4 comments :

Anonymous said...

AFAIK, Verizon's WiFi offering for FiOS customers only works on Windows PC. Mac users are SOL.

Anonymous said...

Wifi is Wifi. Mac, Linux, PC doesn't matter.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, it is not. Verizon partnered with Boingo (http://www.boingo.com/) for this service. You are required to install a client. I don't know the technical details, yet, but here is the FAQ entry:

http://www22.verizon.com/ResidentialHelp/FiOSInternet/Networking/Setup/Wi-Fi/124667.htm

Boingo itself offers a client for Mac (but nothing for Linux) and it could be that Verizon just doesn't want to offer technical support to Mac customers and that it will work just fine.

Jonathan Kalkin said...

This would be a public WIFI powered by FIOS, but not the Boingo kind.So anyone could access it. As a HUGE mac user myself, I will be thinking of the Mac Roosevelt Islanders.

Jonathan Kalkin
Director
RIOC

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