LinkNYC kiosks across the City supply free WiFi and USB ports to recharge your smartphone.
Whether you want to send a quick email, look up directions to your next destination, or need to contact loved ones back home, you’ll have no trouble keeping connected wherever you are in NYC. Sure, your hotel likely has a business center with computers and printers available for guests, but you’ll find plenty of other on-the-go WiFi options as you navigate the five boroughs.
Free WiFi is available throughout NYC, at most hotels, coffee shops (including Starbucks), subway stations, parks and all branches of the New York Public Library. At the library, you can use your own phone or laptop; use of the on-site computers generally requires an NYPL card, though out-of-towners can request a guest pass for 15 minutes of computer use.
The Downtown Alliance website has a list of spots with free wireless Internet in Lower Manhattan. And thanks to City and community initiatives (and in one case, some localized help from Google), a number of neighborhoods, including Brooklyn’s Dumbo, are fully connected, as are parts of others—southwest Chelsea, Harlem, the Flatiron District and Downtown Brooklyn among them.
In an effort to help plugged-in visitors as well as locals, the City has free WiFi hot spots available at the LinkNYC kiosks on sidewalks all over town (which have replaced old payphone booths). In addition to supplying free WiFi from up to 150 feet away, they also provide free phone service within the United States and USB ports to recharge your smartphone. You can also use the built-in tablet to access info on city services, maps and even directions. More than 2,000 Links have been installed so far; another 5,500-plus kiosks are on the way.
Remember to use caution at wireless hot spots. Check out this handy outline of tips about how to safeguard your private data.