New York City's free Wi-Fi initiative has turned into a major hit after Internet browsing was cut off to block pornography consumption at the LinkNYC internet kiosks last month.
LinkNYC network, the operator of the Wi-Fi kiosks, said that as of the end of September, 576,321 people have signed into the Internet service with their devices at the 400 Wi-Fi kiosks in the city. The WiFi has also been used more than 26 million times since the network first launched in February.
The company added that after shutting off the browsing facility from the kiosk tablets in September, browsing sessions at the kiosks have increased 12 percent. Reports of users monopolizing the kiosks have also fallen 82 percent.
LinkNYC said that last week alone, New Yorkers made more than 21,000 free phone calls, used maps 11,000 times, and accessed 311 more than 4,000 times.
The much-touted LinkNYC kiosks were meant to replace public telephones with free Wi-Fi, phone calls, device charging and tablet for access to city services, maps and directions. There are 400 LinkNYC terminals around New York City.
However, the public browsing at these web terminals created a stir after news reports emerged that the kiosks were being used to blast music at late hours of the night, used as living rooms by vagrants, and were even used to browse porn sites.
Yielding to complaints about wide misuse of the Internet kiosks, LinkNYC cut off the browsing facility in September, while free Wi-Fi and phone calls could be accessed from these charging stations.
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