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Verizon To Offer WiFi At Pay Phones

Posted by timothy on from the can-you-ping-me-now dept.

Makarand writes "Verizon has ambitious plans to catapult pay phones from the pre-cellular era to the WiFi era by creating hotspots around pay phones using an extension of their DSL service. The current plan is to upgrade 200,000 pay phones in the New York metro area to provide a WiFi service. Although major metros are spotted with hotspots, finding them is usually a big problem. Verizon thinks that specially marked WiFi enabled pay phones would solve the problem of locating the hotspots." Sounds similar to Bell Canada's move to do the same.

6 of 194 comments (clear)

  1. This is a pleasant surprise. by GreatDave · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'd love to see payphones miniaturized and extended into both wireless broadband hotspots and VoIP phone points. This could lead to more bang for the buck for Verizon.

    --
    "I am root. Bow before me." To this I say, "You are root, and you bear the sins of the world upon your shoulders."
  2. A last gasp by coupland · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is a last attempt by independent business units to make pay phones viable. The fact is that pay phones are very obsolete technology but very expensive to maintain. The business units responsible for them need to find SOME way to survive but ultimately they are a decade behind the curve...

    1. Re:A last gasp by zutroy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't think that Verizon actually needs to do this. They don't really have an interest in keeping the payphones viable; they're phasing them out anyway. This is just an interesting new way to use existing infrastructure that would have otherwise been sent to the scrap heap.

  3. Re:Would've First Posted but I read the article by PatJensen · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Just fire up NetStumbler and take a drive down Shaw Ave to 99. There are tons of businesses with open WiFi, and a lot of the condo/apt complexes have at least a dozen wide open APs.

    Or, hit up the Starbucks all over town if you want to pay $6/sitting for some internet access in Fresno.

    -Pat

  4. havoc? by lpret · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Why would this be any different than any dsl connection? Because it's wifi?


    The most anyone could do is get past the authentication, so Verizon loses a little money, it's not a big deal. That certainly isn't havoc in my book.


    Now what would be interesting is to have that wifi dsl and then also do an ad-hoc network and allow several people to get on through their own little gateway. Brings down the cost quite a bit I'd think...

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  5. Prelude to Bankruptcy Court by toxic666 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Cheese and crackers, have you read the balance sheet lately? Verizon is up to its eyes in debt and its income won't cover financing costs, let alone the principal.

    From the MCI / Worldcom adventure, they realize that the courts are going to let telecoms go into bankruptcy and wipe out debt. Since all of that investment in the 1990's is only returning 2.5% -- not enough to cover the financing -- they may as well build all they can in new and potentially profitable technology (wireless) and grab broadband market share (cheap DSL) before declaring bankruptcy.

    They will continue to build infrastructure as long as there are creditors foolish enough to lend them money.