Catch some free Wi-Fi at the city’s new LinkPHL kiosks

Save your data for the subway, weary travelers.

The Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems announced yesterday that it had received approval from the city’s Art Commission to install 100 free-standing kiosks that will include free Wi-Fi, device charging ports, phone calls within the U.S. and a city services finder.

Perhaps the best part for finance-minded folks: The service will be paid for by advertising, not the city’s budget — and eventually earn it’s own revenue, too. (GiveBackHack winner Free Flow was onto something when it came up with a similar model.)

No word yet on when exactly the kiosks will be installed, or where, beyond the vague neighborhood descriptions of Center City and University City — which raises the question of how serious the city is in reducing Philadelphia’s digital divide if it’s not expanding to more impoverished areas.

For more context on that, check out our sister site Technical.ly Philly’s early-2017 rundown of the city’s recent digital efforts., including the KEYSPOT network.