The Big Apple is about to swap out its 7,500 aging pay phones for a much more modern, advanced system it claims will revolutionize the way residents of the city communicate.
LinkNYC is the name of the program, and it is currently in its beta testing phase. Each of the 7,500 or so aging payphones currently strewn across the five boroughs are slated to be replaced by kiosks that will provide ultra-fast WiFi connections, free calling for passersby, and even charging stations for those looking to boost their mobile batteries on the go.
Each individual unit will be called a link, and they provide access to their services for free in exchange for the right to advertise. In other words, the days of paying $0.25 for a phone call are long behind us. Now, you can dial out for free, but you might have to watch a five or ten second advertisement first.
The announcement may not come as a surprise to some. Our society has been implementing newer, faster, smaller, and more efficient devices virtually anywhere that we see an improvement can be made. Connecting the entire city through WiFi was perhaps a foregone conclusion.
VoIP is one such technology that offers significant improvements over its counterpart from yesteryear. While the technology has been around since the ’90s, it’s never been quite as fast, cheap, and accessible as it is now.
Homeowners can even ditch the traditional land line and replace the technology with VoIP, which can save up to 50% on their home phone bill.
It’s not just homeowners who are seeing the benefits, either. Business News Daily asserts that over a third of all American businesses are using VoIP technology in lieu of a standard phone line connection.
More businesses are slated to sign up, and the gap is certainly only going to close in the coming years. PCMag recently released a list of their top 10 VoIP services for businesses.
We’re becoming more and more connected each day. Residents of the Big Apple are about to find out firsthand exactly how connected we can be.
