Thursday, May 27, 2010

AT&T Offers Free Wi-Fi in New York City

In our nation's largest city, it is no surprise to find that AT&T has been battling with an overwhelmed network. The increased popularity of 3G-enabled wireless devices has finally pushed their infrastructure to the limit. The AT&T cell towers in New York city face problems ahead if they cannot keep up with 3G demand.

So, what's the answer? Get the users to stop relying on 3G. To reduce the load on the cell towers in and around the city, AT&T plans to offer free wireless hot-spots where AT&T customers can get Wi-Fi at no charge rather than relying on the standard data network.

To pilot the program, seeing what real affect it will have on network load, the first free wireless hot-spot has been set up and is now live in Time Square. For a range of 2000 feet from the city's famed landmark, AT&T customers can enjoy Wi-Fi speeds--even faster than 3G--at no extra charge.

So, will it work? I have my doubts for one simple, and seemingly insignificant reason. Laziness...

As an avid iPhone user, I am prompted constantly to join networks. In the city, there are dozens of wireless networks available to join at any given point. The problem is, historically, these have all been security-enabled networks. So, while I'm on the go and in a hurry, I rarely bother to sort through the networks available to find a free one, after all, why bother? The 3G works just fine.

So, the challenge for AT&T is going to be making it as easy as possible for its customers to connect to this new Wi-Fi network instead of the already-available 3G. My suggestion: create a unique name for the network, then push an OS update that automatically switches to the AT&T-provided wi-fi if it's available without the user having to do anything.

What do you think? Any New Yorkers out there excited for this new offer, or do you fear it will never gain popularity?

Labels: 3G, ATT, Hotspot, iPhone, New York, Wi-Fi