Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

New York To Get Free Wi-Fi Network Via Livery Cabs

Posted by kdawson on from the don't-drive-like-my-brother dept.

AndyAndyAndyAndy writes "NYC may finally have a viable plan for free, ad-supported public Wi-Fi service. A company named LimoRes Car & Limo plans to roll out 1,000 cars with transmitters by the fall, and 20,000 by 2011, providing in-car Wi-Fi and externally with a radius of 200 feet. Each car will be able to support up to 16 separate connections. It may be a long shot to say this will provide complete coverage in Manhattan, but if each cab company in New York got onboard... although the brief article notes that the tougher regulation environment for taxicabs means that Wi-Fi won't be coming to Yellow Cabs any time soon."

10 of 86 comments (clear)

  1. Hmmm... by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So, you will have a fleeting connection as the cab whips by, dropping of a fare outside your $2000 a month NYC hovel...

    No, but seriously, educate me: how will someone maintain a connection when the access point is always moving?

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    1. Re:Hmmm... by pushing-robot · · Score: 5, Funny

      Moving? This is New York City we're talking about.

      --
      How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
    2. Re:Hmmm... by ls671 · · Score: 3, Funny

      > No, but seriously, educate me:

      Simple enough, you just need to follow the access point with your car. Problem solved !

      --
      Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
    3. Re:Hmmm... by Tracy+Reed · · Score: 5, Funny

      Finally, I get to shout:

      FOLLOW THAT CAB!

    4. Re:Hmmm... by mr_mischief · · Score: 4, Informative

      A livery cab is a cab for point-to-point rental. It is not a yellow taxi cab that you can hail from the curb. It's what you get when someone says, "I've called a car for you. You'll be dropped off at the client's at 10."

  2. Thats going to be a mess for wifi users everywhere by bit+trollent · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Now, you don't only have to worry about what your neighbors are doing on their wifi. A traffic jam full of taxis in front of your apartment will totally screw your wifi.

    Over-wifi. It's a disaster waiting to happen.

    You's seen it at Apple and Android announcements. They wifi is to crowded and somebody has to find an ethernet cable.

  3. A moving WifI.... by Kitkoan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Unless they plan on parking the cars a lot, I don't see how this can be useful. Once the car goes down the block it will be out of range and the connection will drop. Won't matter if another one is behind it since it won't be the same connection so no auto-reconnect either.

    --
    Attention... all grammer nazi"s! Is they're anything; wrong with: my post,
    1. Re:A moving WifI.... by JSBiff · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "...and you've just gotten the government to subsidize premium wifi for your customers."

      There, fixed it for you. The only thing better than getting the government to provide a free service to your customers is to get the government to provide a free service to [b]you[/b] that you turn around and charge your customers $25/hr for. I mean, these are *limos*. . . you don't think people riding around NYC in limos would pay $25/hr for Wifi in the car? More to the point, you don't think the limo companies wouldn't charge them for it?

  4. Can't really support this... by wronskyMan · · Score: 4, Funny

    unless they get open source drivers!

    --
    --- You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad- Neal (not Cowboy) Boortz
  5. Re:200 foot limit - 3D concerns by mr_mischief · · Score: 3, Informative

    How often do you see livery cabs lined up for fares? Yellow taxis, sure, all the time. I'd bet it's a rare building that has a steady stream of call-ahead, pre-arranged, private rental cars with drivers pulling up. A livery cab isn't a taxi. You can't hail it. A livery cab is codified in NYC law as a "For Hire Vehicle" or "FHV".

    You'll get a lot of liveries at JFK or LaGuardia, sure, and maybe at sports stadiums when there's a game. Most of the cabs in the city are taxi cabs, which in NYC are all yellow.