Wi-Fi? Why not? Homeless are avid users of free web kiosks
An effort to replace obsolete pay phones with Wi-Fi kiosks that offer free web surfing and phone calls has been a hit with panhandlers and the homeless, the least wired people in the city.
The city doesn’t track who’s using the new LinkNYC terminals, but anecdotal evidence suggests many users are living on the streets. On several recent weekdays, people wearing plastic garbage bags or hauling dented shopping carts were hunkered down at terminals.
“It’s free. That’s the best part about it,” said a tall man drinking a beer out of a paper bag as he watched an R. Kelly video at a terminal in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood.