Alex Mashinsky really wants to keep New York City connected to the Internet while on the go. After supporting the plan to add Internet and cellular service in subway stations, Mashinsky is now wanting to get WiFi into 1,000 livery cars by early fall. After that, the plan is to expand to even more cars.
“Our plan is to basically blanket the city with tens of thousands of vehicles,” said Mashinsky.
Soon, you’ll be able to access your e-mail, web and data-reliant applications from even more places in NYC from your Wi-Fi equipped device. After all, it’s not everywhere that you can get a signal on your cell phone, right? The only hurdle this plan might face is sustaining a reliable signal while cars bob and weave in and out of spotty reception areas.
According to the Wall Street Journal:
Unlike cellular phones, which automatically switch which towers they receive signals from as the user moves, current Wi-Fi technology requires users to manually reconnect every time they move out of range of one wireless transmitter and into another’s coverage area. Mr. Mashinsky said he expects next-generation wireless Internet technology to address the problem and make it easier to use cars to provide Wi-Fi coverage on the streets of Manhattan.
On the upside, the cars that will be offering free Wi-Fi will also have charging ports for laptops and cell phones. This means you’ll never have to worry about your gadget being robbed of its juice while you’re merrily checking your Facebook account or sending out very important tweets from the car.
It will be exciting to get these services hooked up in livery cars soon, assuming the drivers don’t take advantage of it while driving, either. For taxis and yellow cabs, it could take longer. The city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission has to approve the technology and put it under a battery of tests and other processes for approval.
[Via: WSJ]