Free High-Speed Wi-Fi Debuts in New York Airports

There’s nothing worse than receiving only 30 minutes of free Wi-Fi at an airport. It’s not enough time to do work and barely offers enough speed to catch a full episode of The Office on a three-hour layover.

New York City airports previously lacked in the free Wi-Fi department – offering as little as 30 minutes for free with partner Boingo, and this significantly hurt them in terms of customer satisfaction.

While there were a few exceptions like JetBlue’s Terminal 5 in JFK that provided free Wi-Fi access for passengers, as of today, every traveler through the three main New York City airports, as well as Stewart Airport in Newburgh, will receive access to free Wi-Fi for up to four hours.

Not only will the Wi-Fi be free, but it will also run at a faster rate of up to 50 megabits per second. With a larger bandwidth, travelers can easily stream Netflix, download large files, and participate in video conferences.

“Our testing consistently shows speeds that will comfortably allow for that,” said Robert Galvin, Port Authority’s chief technology officer.

With four free hours of Wi-Fi at high speeds, New York City airports will have entered an age of better customer service.

As Rick Cotton, executive director for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey told CN Traveler, “Passengers shouldn’t have to wait for better Wi-Fi” as it has evolved from a perk to “a bedrock expectation of today’s customers.”