They never seemed all that enthusiastic about it in the first place, but Verizon is switching off the WiFi network
they built in New York City by installing wireless access points in telephone booths in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The
service was originally meant to lure subscribers to Verizon's DSL service, who would get free access to the WiFi
network along with their DSL subscription, but now they're deciding that they're going to start shutting off the WiFi
network in favor of trying to get people to sign up for Verizon Wireless's high-speed wireless
EV-DO network (which costs
eighty bucks a month to use with a laptop). Hard to imagine many Verizon DSL subscribers thinking to themselves that
now that they're losing access to free WiFi they're going to spend $80 a month for EV-DO, if anything Verizon should be
offering free WiFi access to anyone who signs up for an EV-DO account.
[Thanks, Mike]