Free WiFi at the Beach in Long Island 0
Surfers gathered at Overlook Beach in Babylon on Thursday, but they weren’t navigating waves. Sitting on the second story of the picnic pavilion and looking out at the water, Babylon Town Supervisor Steve Bellone did some Googling, inaugurating the new wireless Internet installation.
Similar WiFi hotspots have been installed at Cedar, Tanner, and Venetian Beaches as well as all town marinas and will eventually be available in all pools, beaches, and parks in Babylon. The Internet is provided at no charge to anyone within the 750-foot range of the access point.
The Town of Babylon is the first municipality on the East Coast to offer this kind of service, although many have tried in the past. “Municipal WiFi is not impossible and can be done when taking the right approach,” according to Henry Quintin, President of Sky-Packets, the company that designed the setup and supplied the hardware.
New York City experimented with free WiFi in its parks but discontinued service in January. Philadelphia was forced to drop its plans for city-wide wireless Internet due to the prohibitive cost. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is exploring a proposal to install WiFi on commuter trains and offers WiFi access in Penn Station as a pilot program. Nassau and Suffolk county officials also proposed offering free WiFi across Long Island, but the idea has stagnated since Cablevision currently offers wireless Internet across LI, although it can only be used by Optimum Online subscribers.
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