CBS Offers Free Wi-Fi In ManhattanAd supported, footprint spans 20 blocks... ( old news - 04:41PM Friday Nov 16 2007) tags: coverage · business · wirelessTipped by pghviewer  CBS yesterday announced that the company would be launching a free, ad-supported Wi-Fi zone in central Manhattan, with a footprint of more than 20 city blocks; ranging from Times Square to Central Park South and from 6th Avenue to 8th Avenue. According to the company, the service is part of a 6-month pilot program with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and New York City Transit "to test the potential communications capabilities of Wi-Fi technology.""We are pleased to deliver what may be the most advanced wireless and pre-WiMax, outdoor offering of it's kind in the U.S.," said Cyriac Roeding, Executive Vice President, CBS Mobile. "Whether it's surfing the web on your laptop from a park bench, receiving breaking news, sports scores, locating the closest recommended pizza shop or calling your friend for free via your Wi-Fi-enabled phone, we believe we're offering something helpful to all New Yorkers. Thanks to the extraordinary capabilities of our partners the whole project took less than six months to complete and was highly cost effective." Should we be worried that the CBS executive in charge of the operation can't distinguish between pre-WiMax and Wi-Fi? Yeah, probably.
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dmeyer
join:2002-08-14
Austin, TX
| Interference Urban wi-fi network projects like this are extremely impractical... When every coffee shop, restaurant, bookstore, gym, gas station, apartment, on the block has their own wi-fi hotspot, it will drown out something such as this. With such limited spectrum in the 2.4ghz band it's gonna be a nightmare to put together a network that will won't constantly drop users due to interference. Ever tried driving through any major city's downtown with Netstumbler running? There are more SSIDs than it can handle and the whole thing just locks up. | |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA | Re: Interference I agree... what's stopping me from having some N gear bring their WiFi network down to its knees. It is open standards.
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Canada = Hollywood North | |
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avd706
insert annoying animated gif here
Premium
join:2003-02-06
Union, NJ | Re: Interference DOS.. and not Department of Subways... | |
| | ernstk
join:2001-05-08
Middle Village, NY
| Hi,
I was there (at 57th St and 7th Av) and I got this from my trusty iPAQ 2215 w/ WCF54G
SSID: CBSMobileZoneNYC
Connection: Excellent
Base Station: [00-0d-97-08-0f-72]
Channel: 1 (b/g)
Encryption: No Encryption
I tried to connect with my Asus Eee PC. Also strong signal, but CBS portal would not come up. Maybe next time.
No interference, even tho I went into the bank next door because it was too cold outside.
Klaus Ernst, NYC | |
| | | B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
| Re: Interference But did it hand you a usable IP address? I guess you didn't have the time to check.
I think this is a great thing, that some company (and not Google) is still putting some faith in urban WiFi.
Just be aware that, as with any unencrypted network, your data's wide open unless you're VPNing, using an SSL site, etc.
-- B
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In a realm outside causality and function | |
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Hall
Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-28
Dayton, OH
 ·EarthLink
·AT&T Midwest
 ·Earthlink Cable Mo..
| Worried ? Should we be worried that the CBS executive in charge of the operation can't distinguish between pre-WiMax and Wi-Fi? Yeah, probably. Probably not.... I'm betting he wasn't too involved in the actual hardware portion of the deal. Why don't you go see if it works ? | |
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cdigioia
Premium
join:2005-06-08
korea, repub
·Korea Telecom
1 edit | No, he did not say anything worriesome. "The most advanced wireless and pre-WiMax, outdoor offering of it's kind in the U.S."
If one views WiMax as the successor to Wifi, then this could easily be viewed as pre-WiMax in that sense.
Or, he could be saying that outside of WiMax, an inherently more suitable technology for such a task, this is the most advanced outdoor offering of it's kind in the US.
Give the guy a break, he very may well not know anything about wireless technologies, but then again he may know a lot, we have no idea. | |
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Transmaster
Don't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY | Well If nobody is watching their TV shows I guess this is one way to do things.
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Eat pork chops for Allah! | |
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cdigioia
Premium
join:2005-06-08
korea, repub | Re: Well Huh? | |
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Ream0
@rr.com
| This makes me MAD! I wish I lived in a more proactive city,and Seeing FREE broadband being rolled out in other parts of the country makes me green with envy!
I live in Los angeles and all the mayor wants to do is pass out burritos to ILLEGAL ALIENS!  | |
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Could pre-Wimax be used for backhaul of WiFi signals