“As we continued to evaluate it, the usage just wasn’t living up to expectations,” Verizon spokesperson Bobbi Hanson said. “The spots were not well utilized.”
Verizon launched its free New York Wi-Fi program for untethered laptop DSL customers in 2003 and has spent millions to install short-range transmitters in hundreds of city phone booths.
The company had hoped to capture what it believed would become a huge on-the-street DSL market. Usage, however, fell far short of forecasts; in fact, use of the booths declined steadily over time as cell phone use increased.
After spending more than $600 updating its cellular network over the last two years, Verizon execs no longer saw the under-utilized, free Wi-Fi network as a worthwhile experiment. As a result, about 380 Wi-Fi hotspots will be phased out over the next two months.
However, the company put a happy spin on the news by couching it within a press release about the expansion of its fee-based Evolution-Data Optimized 3G cellular Internet service, stating, “the better business model in our mind is the EV-DO network.”
Subscription EV-DO offers wider range of coverage and more stable connections for roaming laptop users. It is, however, slower.