• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, June 10, 2011

New Yorkers were greeted with the welcome news Thursday that free Wi-Fi will roll out in 20 city parks across all five boroughs in the coming months, courtesy of AT&T in partnership with city government. The carrier even aims to make that urban wilderness known as Central Park safe for Internet access (or at least parts of it).

AT&T's Wi-Fi project comes on the heels of Brooklyn's entire Dumbo neighborhood getting free, public Wi-Fi coverage through the efforts of local real estate developer Two Trees Management Company, the local business improvement district, and nonprofit group NYCwireless, which has helped create hotspots in other places like Bryant Park and Madison Square Park.

In announcing the latest Wi-Fi program Thursday with AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg hailed the telecom giant's "terrific corporate citizenship" for undertaking the citywide initiative.

But before laying on the plaudits, let's take a step back for a second. AT&T gained lots of attention last year when it created a free Wi-Fi hotspot for Times Square. But that service was only free to AT&T customers with certain smartphones -- like the iPhone-laptops, and AT&T data plans. The company also set up similar hotspots in other parts of the city, including Rockefeller Center.

Behind that pilot project was the need to reduce congestion on its 3G wireless network, which had seen a 5000% increase in data traffic driven mostly by iPhone users. Those customers have long been vocal in complaining about dropped calls and spotty AT&T coverage in New York.

A spokesperson for the city's Department of Information Technology and Telecommunication confirmed that the Wi-Fi service AT&T is powering for city parks will be free and available to everyone, not just AT&T customers. He said it also won't require people to provide an email address or other registration information to use the service. If so, that would be similar to how the free Wi-Fi provided to Starbucks customers works.

For his part, Dana Spiegel, the executive director of NYCwireless, is taking a wait-and-see approach to AT&T's latest Wi-Fi effort. He said he still has questions -- for instance, about whether the service will really offer free access to everyone, without any restrictions or strings attached.

Spiegel also suggested the high-profile Wi-Fi project is a good PR move for AT&T in the midst of its push to gain approval for its proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA. Along with that, more Wi-Fi coverage will have the benefit of helping further alleviate pressure on AT&T's mobile phone network. "It may be a good thing they're doing it, but it's not necessarily out of the goodness of their heart," said Spiegel. That's not likely to trouble park-goers, though, as long as they can get free, reliable Internet access more widely.