De Blasio Seeks to Narrow NYC Digital Divide With Wi-Fi

Every evening, when New York’s Bronx Library Center closes at 9 o’clock, a group of young people carrying mobile phones clusters outside its entrance on a busy commercial street. They are there to access the Internet through a wireless signal leaking from inside.

In a borough where 30 percent live in poverty, many Bronx residents can’t afford a data plan for their phones. At home, they often don’t have broadband connection to the Internet or even a computer. If Mayor Bill de Blasio has his way, by next year New Yorkers will be able to use their handsets to go online through a network that will replace the city’s once-ubiquitous sidewalk payphones with free Wi-Fi hotspots.