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New York’s airports are undergoing some pretty big upgrades at the moment—from vintage airplane cocktail lounges and a mid-century hotel to a long-awaited rail link to LaGuardia Airport—but perhaps the most exciting new development yet has just been announced, and it’s going into effect immediately: Free Wi-Fi.
Having to pay for internet while stuck at JFK or LaGuardia (and if you’re traveling out of one of these two airports, odds are that you’re stuck) has long been one of their worst aspects. While most other major airports in cities across the country offered free Wi-Fi, New York has lagged behind.
The reason? Both airports were locked into a two decade contract with the telecom operator Boingo that limited free service. Finally, in 2014, the operator agreed to provide a measly 45 minutes of free service. (Wow. Thanks a lot Boingo.) Usually, that meant you then had to stagger your internet usage on one device at a time in order to make it through to your departure time with browsing access.
Now, customers of both airports will have access to four hours of free Wi-Fi at a much faster speed—20 megabits per second on the low end and up to 50 megabits per second on the high end. That’s about as good as most household’s internet connection, but not quite as fast as the not-at-all creepy free Wi-Fi kiosks springing up around the city.