Kansas City became the envy of the technology-literate when Google announced that it would be bringing its affordable and lightning-fast Google Fiber to the city. Now, the world can eye New York with jealousy, as Google's brought free Wi-Fi to the Chelsea area. Much like Mountain View, Google is bringing free Wi-Fi to the city that houses its New York offices.
Google is doing its part in the community, bringing free Wi-Fi to some of the poorest areas of Chelsea. “This is the largest (area) we've ever done," said Alex Abelin, community affairs manager for Google to New York Daily News. "The best way to help a community is to connect it. People don’t know that 15 percent of Chelsea lives below the poverty line. This can help that." The fact that adding free Wi-Fi helps spur the growth of Silicon Alley, an area in Manhattan rife with tech startups, doesn't hurt either.
This isn't a huge ploy for Google to gain business from this area through advertising, though. The service will be free of advertising outside of a message to users that the Wi-Fi is complimentary of Google.
The Wi-Fi will be without a password and is readily available in Chelsea already for users to connect to.
