Governors Island, with 172 acres of land just off the Manhattan shoreline, is the perfect test bed for 5G. This former Coast Guard military base now serves as a national park, and it draws in more than 800,000 visitors annually. In June 2018, Fiberless Networks of Quincy, MA was announced as the winner of the Governors Island Connectivity Challenge. On July 1, 2018, free, high-speed public Wi-Fi was installed on the island to serve as a test case for advancing broadband, Wi-Fi, and 5G cell service throughout NYC.
Michael Samuelian, president and CEO of the Trust for Governors Island, said, "We very much view ourselves as a test phase for how to kind of cheaply and easily deploy future 5G technologies. And being an island, as you probably know, we were very, very keen on having a more resilient kind of backup to our data line, so we already are hard-wired through the battery tunnel, but it was very important for us to have a completely wireless system."
It was approriate that Governors Island serve as a 5G test bed because it is the location of previous firsts, including Wilbur Wright's first public flight.
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