Downtown Alliance Opens Two New Wi-Fi Hotspots in Lower Manhattan

02/09/2011
Downtown Alliance Opens Two New Wi-Fi Hotspots in Lower Manhattan

The Alliance for Downtown New York has boosted its Wi-Fi network to give residents, workers and visitors even more opportunities to get free coverage in Lower Manhattan, with new hotspots at Peter Minuit Plaza and the pedestrian seating area at Whitehall and Water streets.

The Downtown Alliance’s network now includes 12 hotspots spanning more than half a million square feet in parks and public spaces in Lower Manhattan from City Hall Park to Bowling Green.

“Peter Minuit Plaza and the New York City Department of Transportation’s new pedestrian seating area on Water Street are both beautifully renovated places to relax and take a break in Lower Manhattan, and now they’ve got free Wi-Fi,” said Elizabeth H. Berger, President of the Downtown Alliance. “With a dozen Wi-Fi locations — and more on the horizon — Lower Manhattan’s 55,000 residents, 300,000 workers and six million annual visitors now more places to go online for free.”

The Downtown Alliance established the Lower Manhattan Wireless Network in 2003, and its 12 hotspots were recently upgraded with higher bandwidth, new technology and expanded coverage. The network is designed to allow anyone to walk to a hotspot within minutes from any point below Chambers Street, enable connection speeds as fast as DSL (digital subscriber line) and accommodate more than 254 users simultaneously at each location.

The Downtown Alliance network has witnessed astronomical growth in usage. In 2010, the number of connections onto the Network skyrocketed by more than 96 percent over 2009. Currently, the network receives more than 8,300 connections (on average) each month. Despite the blistering cold and snow, the Downtown Alliance recorded almost 5,600 log-ons and almost 500 gigabytes of data transferred by Wi-Fi users in January.

Melville, New York-based Sky-Packets installs and maintains the hotspots for the Downtown Alliance. To learn about the installation process, visit our blog at http://blog.downtownny.com/2010/08/bringing-wi-fi-to-the-elevated-acre/.

Wi-Fi is available at:

  • Peter Minuit Plaza
  • Pedestrian Plaza at Water and Whitehall streets
  • The Elevated Acre
  • The Plaza at 7 World Trade Center
  • Bowling Green
  • The British Garden at Hanover Square
  • City Hall Park
  • South Street Seaport
  • Stone Street
  • Vietnam Veterans Memorial Plaza
  • Winter Garden and Plaza at the World Financial Center
  • The Atrium at 60 Wall Street.
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