LinkUK will take LinkNYC’s free Wi-Fi kiosks across the Atlantic

By Brad Jones October 25, 2016

citybridge follows up linknyc program with linkuk — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Over the last couple of years, tech consortium CityBridge has been working on LinkNYC, an effort to transform New York City’s disused payphones into state-of-the-art internet kiosks. Now, Intersection, BT and Primesight have announced a similar program for the United Kingdom.

LinkUK will replace existing payphones across London, starting with 100 kiosks that will be installed in Camden starting in early 2017, according to a report from The Next Web.

Like LinkNYC, LinkUK will start in the country’s biggest metro area, before potentially moving farther afield if the program is a success. BT expects to install an additional 750 kiosks across London and the rest of the U.K. following the initial 100 units that are set to be deployed in Camden.

The kiosks will offer free access to gigabit Wi-Fi, calls to U.K. landlines and mobile phones, maps and local information, as well as two USB ports for charging devices. However, they won’t give users access to a web browser directly from the unit itself.

At launch, LinkNYC did offer access to a free web browser — but this functionality was quickly seized upon as an easy portal to online pornography. The browser was removed, and based on what’s been announced regarding the LinkUK kiosks, it seems that this learning experience has impacted the future direction of the project.

In this day and age, there really isn’t as much demand for payphones as there once was, so it makes a lot of sense for this kind of program to repurpose them into something more useful.

However, it’s clear that both LinkNYC and LinkUK are just trial programs. Tourists to both cities will undoubtedly appreciate the free Wi-Fi, but the larger impact of open internet access will be felt once the program expands to other parts of the U.S. and the U.K., rather than their comparably well-connected capitals.

Updated on 10-25-16 by Brad Jones to reflect that CityBridge is not the consortium that’s responsible for LinkUK.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Brad is an English-born writer currently splitting his time between Edinburgh and Pennsylvania. You can find him on Twitter…

Computing

Best Antivirus Deals: Protect your PC or Mac from just $35

norton 360 deluxe with lifelock deal best buy december 2021 antivirus shutterstock stock image

If you just grabbed one of these desktop deals or laptop deals, then you may want to also consider arming yourself with one of the best antivirus programs on the market. That's especially true since the antiviruses that tend to come with these deals only last 30 days or so and don't even include the full suite of tools. So, if you want protection against everything from viruses to phishing scams, then be sure to check our favorite antivirus deals below.
NortonLifeLock 360 Deluxe -- $35, was $90

Norton products are a firm fixture amongst the best antivirus software for good reason. They're simple to use and typically cover all the devices you could need to protect. In the case of NortonLifeLock, you get so much more than just antivirus protection too. The software package covers up to five devices at once meaning it will happily work on your Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS systems all at once without a problem. That means all your devices will be regularly monitored for any nefarious files or any other potential issues relating to malware or similar. Real-time protection means there's nothing you need to do other than keep an eye out for any alerts from the service. It's great peace of mind but Norton LifeLock 360 Deluxe goes further than that.

Computing

Best Samsung monitor deals: 4K monitors, ultrawide, and more

Press image of the Samsung ViewFinity S9 studio monitor.

Samsung is probably one of the most well-known electronics companies, making everything from some of the best phones on the market to washers and driers, so it has a huge pedigree in the tech field. That pedigree also extends to monitors, as it also makes some of the best monitors and best gaming monitors on the market as well, so if you're looking to buy a new one, grabbing a Samsung on is a pretty smart choice. Of course, there's a huge selection of monitors to pick from, which is why we've gone out and selected some of our favorite Samsung monitor deals and compiled them for you below.

Also, if you're not quite sure what monitor to buy, check out our computer monitor buying guide to get a better sense of what you need. And, if you don't find it among Samsung monitors, you can always check some other great monitor deals as well.
Samsung 22-inch T350 Full HD monitor -- $100, was $120

Computing

The RTX 4090 is more popular on Steam than any AMD GPU

Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU.

Despite being easily the fastest graphics card you can buy right now, the RTX 4090 is a niche product. At $1,600, it's out of the conversation for the vast majority of gamers. Still, that hasn't stopped the GPU from reaching a high ranking in Steam's hardware survey. According to the latest survey, the RTX 4090 is in 0.96% of gaming PCs running Steam -- more than any individual AMD GPU.

Although it's no surprise that Nvidia tops the charts in the Steam hardware survey -- the most recent report says Nvidia is represented in 76.59% of PCs compared to AMD's 15.79% -- it's shocking to see such an expensive GPU rank so highly. Compared to last month, the RTX 4090 even gained 0.11%, despite only being available above list price.