AT&T to offer free Wi-Fi in Times Square to ease congestion

By on May 25, 2010 at 12:59 PM
Services May 25, 2010

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AT&T’s come up with a pretty novel solution to address its network congestion woes in New York City’s Times Square. Instead of giving its cellular network a much needed boost at the north central area of Times Square near 7th Avenue between 45th and 47th Street, AT&T has announced it will instead offer free public Wi-Fi to all of its customers with 3G smartphones, 3G LaptopConnect cards and AT&T High Speed Internet plans. Anyone with an AT&T 3G smartphone with Wi-Fi enabled with have their device automatically connect to the giant hotspot. Although it’s simply a pilot project, AT&T has said it will consider deploying free Wi-Fi to other busy locations across the US if all goes well in Times Square. Just promise us you’ll be careful crossing the street while playing WoW on your netbook, okay?

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38 Comments

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  • com

    This is great. I hope other carriers follow suit!

  • tbearski

    Read this 6 hours ago! BGR did you just wake up?

  • AT&TAtlantaRegionalVP

    You’re welcome.

  • Darnell

    It’s not free for me, because I don’t use AT&T and would have to buy a plan from the most expensive carrier in the business just to use their Times Square Hot Spot.

    The AT&T press release says:
    “The AT&T Wi-Fi hotzone at Times Square is available at no additional charge for nearly 32 million AT&T customers with qualifying smartphone, 3G LaptopConnect and AT&T High Speed Internet plans.”

    You need more than just an AT&T 3G device, you also need to already be paying them on a plan.

    The title of this blog thread should mention “to their customers”…

    And just HOW FAST is their Hot Spot?

    Anyway, still cheaper for non-AT&T customers to go get something else.

    • Amanda

      Why would they offer it to customers not on their network? Common sense people! You pay no attribute to AT&T, this is where AT&T takes the money we pay for our “expensive” monthly service and puts it to good use. So to those constantly bashing AT&T services and pricing, ask your “cheap” provider to accommodate you with this amenity!

  • Nick

    Why can’t AT&T improve its cellular service by adding capacity? Is AT&T that strapped for cash? It’s shocking that Apple and its allegiance of customers have put up with AT&T’s antics for so long: blocked/ banned apps, no tethering, 2 years to roll out MMS (wtf), unreliable service, slow speeds, dropped calls, etc, etc. This wi-fi headline appears to be a half-assed approach, because phone calls don’t use wi-fi, unless you’re using VOIP, right? Also, doesn’t a cellular signal penetrate walls better than a wi-fi signal? Might this only benefit people outside on the street?

    It seems rather pathetic that the carrier we’re forced to use in order to use the iphone can’t maintain reliable service in the most densely populated city in the country.

    • Amanda

      Wow the stupidity of the general public is abundant! No phone calls dont use wifi but they do use AT&Ts 3G network as does internet usage when you are not connected to a wifi hotspot. Over 32 million AT&T users have PDA or smart phones which tie up lot of AT&Ts network by making calls and accessing things such as Facebook, BGR and other sites using their cellular device when not on wifi. If in large cities we could cut this down by offering wifi then we could have more reliable service. Now it’s obvious you don’t understand how the cellular industry works so next time do some research before posting complaints about how you think how crappy it is!

  • Ira

    Ummm … isn’t this an admission that AT&T can’t provide decent cell service in NYC. They can’t provide it in Los Angeles either, by the way.

    • AT&TAtlantaRegionalVP

      Luke Wilson begs to differ..

  • xim

    Isnt this why they are supposed to be deploying femtocells?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Femtocell

    so people wouldn’t have to switch to wi-fi consciously and still take load off the regular wireless networks?

  • justjohnmichael

    Yayyy! Another shifting-attention-away-from-our-ghetto-network-because-we’re-too-cheap-to-fix-our-customers-issues plan.

    Nice AT&T. Nice. :)

  • MikeL

    this is lame… All we need here is another AT&T bandaid.

    We have has free WiFi in ALL OF Time Square for the past 6 months and it has nothing to do with AT&T and their new 1 access point in one of the corners.

    Why not fix the REAL issue AT&T?

  • bigheat

    Only if you knew who AT&T was buying fiber from in NYC, . . Give you one guess, starts with a V. Seems to me that this V company might want to not deliver on the orders as fast as they can. These telecom companies have to rely heavily on each other for backhaul for the national networks. Think about it . . .

  • Scott

    Wow, AT&T trying to do something new to help alleviate the network congestion in NY and you’re still complaining? I would have had a hand to my face by my dad for talking that way. At least they’re trying some thing new. If it works, wouldn’t that be great? Or would you rather just have a poor network? Hypocrites.

    • MikeL

      Scott,

      Putting up a cheap access point in what would cover about 1/10000th of the city is a poor PR stunt at best. I could care less if a tourist drops a call or can check their email while in the street. What about the millions of New Yorkers? New Yorkers don’t go to Time Square very much if ever.

      they should be working on their cellular infrastructure since that is what we, the customers are paying for.

      • Scott

        They have been working on their infrastructure. It just takes time. But if you would have read the article, they’re trying it in this one sport and if it works, they plan to add more areas. And while yes, it is a “cheap access point”, if it helps with “some” congestion, then it’s not a bad idea. It’s cheaper and quicker than adding towers in a city that’s already cramped for space.

  • AC

    You know what else would be a novel idea for AT&T to do to ease congestion??? Fix their network issues instead of just putting on band-aids.

    Its amazing people actually pay for AT&T service and put up with their terrible network issues.

    • whoareu

      this is a fix you douche bag. This is a big PART of their network. 25,000 wifi hotspots all go to AT&T’s servers and help unload network use for your precious calls to your mom.

  • justjohnmichael

    Scott – “I would have had a hand to my face by my dad for talking that way.”

    Really? Your dad would have slapped you across the face for questioning a Multi-Billion Dollar Company’s lame solution for ‘fixing’ the network in such a major metropolitan area?

    Wow.

    • Scott

      maybe I should have been more clear on the situation. It’s like, lets say you lived in a large house and then you got wifi, but it went only so far. Then if you bitch about it, hand to the face. I feel like kids need a good crack some times. Look at you people whining. How many reports have we read where they’re working on. They’re trying some thing new and if it works, they’ll expand it and see if that helps. If the service doesn’t work well for you, switch to one that does. You live in the most populated city in the United States. Can you honestly expect your cell service to be perfect?

  • jp

    great, free wi-fi for the bridge and tunnel crowd. and this will only work if customers are setup to auto connect to wifi spots. I highly doubt it will put the smallest of dents in the issue. I’d love to see some stats on this after it goes live. bet nothing will change. agree with mikeL; poor pr stunt, fix the network!

  • StevenGlansburg

    Who cares about New York? Why don’t don’t they worry about the rest of the country? Its pathetic that At&t is pandering to the bitching and moaning of all the tech blogs located in NYC.

    • whoareu

      Obviously a lot of people since they chose the center of the world to do this to……..moron.

  • Crunch

    AT&T in L.A. has been steadily improving ever since they turned on HSPA 7.2. I’m now getting over 3.5Mbps in my neighborhood. See, when we have problems with AT&T service out here on the coast, it’s because the downlink speed is horrid, i.e. below 2,000kbps. :D :D :D

  • Doh

    ….great, more places for hackers to snoop data.

  • http://www.ledmonitorshq.com/ Led Zepp

    Nice. That better be some powerful wifi. I hope they still fix their network though. It would be nice to be able to make phone calls reliably.

  • Ez

    I have att and i can honestly say the service is pure garbage!
    To scott – who give a shit about wifi.?!! Make the damn phone svc work right. Wifi aint gona help me when im drivin through times square and and cant make a phone call or call drops.

    Someone asked wjo carea about Ny what about rest of country ? Bc 2% of us population lives in nyc area, bc more iphones are sold in ny than anywhere and last but not least what the point of sincking millions of $$$ into cell cites in butfuck iowa when theyll never gona pay off ? In nyc on thr other hand every other person got an unlimited plan with data and text so do the math.

    But att svc is shit ! Theyll never change itabin their genes, just like its in verizons genes to have the best svc but put out the most horrendous ugly incomplete just pure junk phones out there. Notn u can do about it both of them did those things for yrs and notn will ever change

    • Amanda

      Actually when you are driving through time square and their is a wifi hotspot for AT&T users to access their Internet usage as opposed to it’s 3G network, then yes it will help you to make calls and not drop because there are fewer morons like yourself tying up the 3G network!

    • Scott

      If they suck that much, why don’t you switch instead of bitching about it? I better it’s quicker than those 3 paragraphs you typed. lol

  • lzarEus

    shoot, somebody needs to sink millions into education so when people comment they know how to spell…

    pathetic

    Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone).

  • sand0s

    some of you people are just dense… does anyone here whining realize that AT&T has invested $17 billion in EACH of the last two years to improve network infrastructure? you numskulls sit here and complain like they’re not doing ANYTHING even after they announce they’re giving a unique idea a try. that’s $34 billion and one wi-fi pilot program and you keep complaining… just switch carriers then, sheesh…..

  • baller

    its not that easy to add cell sites where ever you want. It can take a few years just to add a cell site because cities and people living near the new cell sites sue so that it cannot be installed. If it was that easy all the cell cites would already be installed. Now if you dont like at&t then go another carrier. you have no reason to be complaining. i have at&t and i think its good. honestly they are all the same. some work in one place where another doesnt. just stop complaining.

  • MobileGuru

    Thats great hope other carriers think about doing the same but AT&T how about you concentrate on your service in NYC first? Great idea but fix it dont ingnore it. We have wifi almost everywhere in time square mind you. Many carriers have invested great amounts of money to improve their service also. Verizon, Sprint and Tmobile have decent or excellent service in the city already. The iphone wont save you forever.

  • http://Google.com Nasir mahmoo

    iPhone free wi fi actevation on

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