The Wi-FI-freeSpot

En el enlace de arriba aparece un directorio de los lugares donde un viajero puede encontrar acceso a internet en forma inalámbrica.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Sunshine, daffodils and ... wireless Internet access?

All of these should be widely available at New York City parks, high-tech advocates said at a City Council hearing on the state of Wi-Fi al fresco.

''We believe that free Internet is an amenity and should be provided to all New Yorkers just as grass, trees and benches are,'' said Dana Spiegel, executive director of NYCwireless, a nonprofit organization that has worked with business groups and park boosters to set up wireless Internet access in several parks and open spaces.

Monday's joint hearing of the council's committees on technology and parks focused on Wi-Fi hot spots where park-goers can access the Internet through laptops, cell phones and other devices.

The city's Department of Parks & Recreation in 2003 requested bids for the development of wireless Internet technology in a number of parks throughout the city, including Battery Park, Central Park, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Prospect Park, Union Square Park and Washington Square Park. A company called The Wi-Fi Salon LLC won the bidding, set up Wi-Fi in Battery Park and is seeking a sponsor to provide the backing to install the service in the others.

The deputy parks commissioner for management and budget, Robert Garafola, said Central Park should be online by July and the rest of those parks in late summer.

''So much of the modern world is now centered on the Internet,'' Garafola said. ''We use it to do work, pay bills, find a restaurant or a date. With wireless Internet access in parks you can do all of these things and also get sun and fresh air at the same time.''

Also due to be online by late summer are the Brooklyn Bridge Promenade and Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, near the United Nations.

Councilwoman Gale Brewer, who chairs the committee on technology in government, said all city parks should be wired.

''Technology is fast becoming an essential part of everyone's lives, and we should be wiring as much of New York City as possible, including our parks,'' she said.

There are more than 1,700 parks, playgrounds and recreation facilities in the city, according to the parks department's Web site. ''We're taking it one step at a time,'' parks spokesman Warner Johnston said.

Spiegel said the privately run Bryant Park, one of the first New York parks to get free Wi-Fi access, now gets about 250 users a day.