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Garbage container as a Wi-Fi hotspot
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
It is hard to imagine the modern world without communication, every day millions of people communicate with each other using Skype, Viber, exchange emails, many cannot imagine their lives without social networks, but in some parts of the city there is no access to the Internet, which causes some inconvenience.
In addition, people look for almost any information, be it a bus schedule, the address of a cafe, a medical center, or ordering groceries, on the Internet.
New York has decided to combat this problem in an original way – with the help of ordinary garbage containers. In such a huge city, there are quite a few places where access to the global network is limited, and the BigBelly company decided to install “smart” garbage containers with Wi-Fi support (the company has already applied to the mayor’s office for a subsidy to carry out the transformation).
This choice for installing an access point was not accidental, because garbage containers are an integral, but at the same time, an unnoticeable part of our lives, and the company's specialists decided to turn them into high-tech machines that will provide Internet access in five districts of the city.
In many cities, garbage containers have ceased to be just containers for collecting waste; now, containers are widely used that signal utility services about the need to remove garbage when they are full or when an unpleasant odor appears (such containers are equipped with special sensors).
In Manhattan, two garbage containers have already been installed for testing this winter, which were converted into Wi-Fi access points, and, according to the company's reports, this idea has great potential. The speed that the company promises is quite high (up to 75 megabits per second), now several hundred such containers will be installed by BigBelly specialists in different areas of New York, all that remains is to obtain the mayor's approval for such transformations, and, most likely, the project will begin to be implemented in a few months.
As an access point to the Internet, a garbage container seems to be the most convenient, first of all, because they are located on the ground and it is quite easy to connect the necessary equipment to them, in addition, being on the first level, the signal will not be subject to any influence from high-rise buildings. Also, garbage containers are located throughout the area and allow you to cover a fairly large area. Banner advertising was chosen as a way to notify about free access points.
Already today in New York it is planned to replace payphones with free access points to the global network, anyone will be able to use them not only to access the Internet, but also to recharge, make internal calls, and receive necessary city information using specially installed tablets.
By the end of this year, city authorities intend to install about 10 thousand of these machines, several thousand of which will also provide free Internet access to everyone who wants it.