New Yorkers to get free Wi-Fi via old phone booths in Google-funded project

Google's urban innovation startup Sidewalk Labs has made its first big investment - turning NYC's disused phone booths into 10,000 Wi-Fi hotspots

The goal of free, high-speed internet for everyone in New York City has jumped much closer: Sidewalk Labs, the new Google-backed startup that was created last month to improve city life though technological innovation, has announced it is investing in a project to turn the city's payphones into Wi-Fi hotspots.

The company is among a group of investors acquiring two New York-based firms that have been leading the effort to turn disused payphones into 10,000 Wi-Fi hotspots and information kiosks, beginning later this year. In a stroke, it puts Sidewalk Labs - and, by proxy, Google - in the lead of the world's highest-profile rollout of free, citywide Wi-Fi.