Forget Starbucks. Now you have the New York City streets for free (and speedy) Wi-Fi.

At least that’s what the NYC government and CityBridge, a joint public-private consortium of experts in tech, media, and connectivity, are trying to achieve.

To that end, they created LinkNYC — the project is currently in beta mode. Since launching in January, they have placed 300 Wi-Fi kiosks throughout Manhattan and the Bronx. A company spokesperson said the towers should be in Queens in the next few weeks and will eventually land in Brooklyn and Staten Island.

LinkNYC kiosks have two main features: There is a tablet installed into the portal itself that has multiple free features, including access to the Internet, calls powered by Vonage, Google Maps, 911 and 311 (a special NYC help and information line). Users do not need to log in to use the tablet. There is also a power-only USB port so you can charge your phone.

The kiosks also provide free public Wi-Fi service with a range of up to 150 feet you can access via an email log-in. Additionally, there is a private, more secure network available for those with Apple devices. LinkNYC says it is currently working on a way for Android devices to sign onto the private network.

Yahoo Finance hit Times Square to get a sense of whether people even know what these sleek structures are, never mind how to use them. The overwhelming majority of interviewees said they had no idea what the 9-½ foot towers were and that they wished they had known about them before. Our sample pool suggested that people will likely use the USB port to juice up their phones and join the Wi-Fi network in the future.

Over the past seven months, nearly 275,000 people have registered to use the kiosks, and last week alone there were one million Wi-Fi sessions. Eventually, the city intends to convert its 7,500 pay phones into Links. Watch the video to hear what tourists and New Yorkers have to say about LinkNYC. Would you use a Link?

Melody Hahm is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Read more of her work:

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