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New York City lampposts going wireless

Lamppost NYC

So it's fashionable to bitch about how terrible cellphone coverage is (not that it isn't worth bitching about or anything), but hopefully easing our frustration just a little bit (at least here where we live) New York City just announced a plan to let companies put cellphone antennas and WiFi access points on top of lampposts, traffic signals, and highway signs all over town. Nextel and T-Mobile are the cell carriers planning to lease space, so you're pretty much out of luck if you use anyone else, but what we're really interested in is the part about how ClearLinx Network Corp., Crown Castle Solutions and Dianet Communications are planning on doing something with wireless Internet, hopefully trying to create some sort of citywide WiFi network. The Times doesn't delve too much into the particulars of the plans of the sixth company leasing space, but it sounds like IDT Business Services is planning to use their leased lampposts to bring their new Voice over WiFi phone service (which we first we mentioned back in April) to New York City.