Dumbo Gets Free Wi-Fi; Manhattan's Paid Version to Follow

As of today, Dumbo, Brooklyn, is the first -- and only -- location in the city to offer a free wireless network for the neighborhood. It's called Dumbo Wi-Fi, and it will be available outside, in streets, parks, and plazas, between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges -- including in the newly finished and beauteous Brooklyn Bridge Park -- reports the New York Times. (Dumbo residents, let us know if you can pick up a signal inside, too.)

To offer the Wi-Fi, the Dumbo Business Improvement District paired with Two Trees Management Company, which owns a handful of buildings in Dumbo and spent some $65,000 on the equipment, which was installed by the nonprofit NYCwireless. Not to be outdone, a company called Towerstream plans to install a Wi-Fi network in Manhattan, but it will be sold to cell service providers, who would then offer it to customers, presumably at a cost -- or that's the plan, anyway.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz is psyched about this new Brooklyn tech-savvy -- "One day, mark my words, this area will rival Silicon Valley in terms of high-tech ingenuity," he said. Surely, the wilds of Dumbo will be chock-full of people plotting their new website world takeovers this summer. As Alexandria Sica, Executive Director of the Dumbo BID said:

"Creativity can literally flow into the streets. Businesses will be born in Brooklyn Bridge Park. The next Etsy could be thought up right under the Manhattan Bridge!"

Imagine that!

Using Internet Outside? In Part of Brooklyn, Free Wireless Access Arrives [NYT]
Dumbo Brooklyn First to Offer Free Wireless Access [DumboNYC]