Tried to use your laptop in a city park recently and couldn't pick up a wi-fi signal? Thought so. The Times reports (based on an original report from Wi-Fi Net News) there is a very good reason you couldn't Google, blog or surf:
The long-troubled arrangement to install wireless Internet networks in Central Park and other New York City parks has quietly collapsed after the contractor, Wi-Fi Salon, ran out of money because it could not find corporate sponsors.Uh, yeah, that would be a problem. The interesting thing is the "networks were quietly shut down in October" and the news is being reported in freaking January. Locations included seven hot spots in Central Park, two in Prospect Park and many others. Amusingly, a Parks Dept. webpage on wi-fi in parks directs people to a page where there's no info at all. All is not lost, however. Sewell Chan writes that "The parks department confirmed that the city terminated the contract in anticipation of a new plan to offer high-speed wireless at sites across the city, including the parks." In other words, we'll be good to go by 2020. Keep those EVDO cards, iPhones and Blackberrys handy.
· Deal for Wireless Access in City Parks Collapses [CityRoom]
· New York Parks Wi-Fi Shutdown [Wi-Fi Net News]
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