[Theodores]

I don't know if these phone boxes will last for long, there have been plenty of efforts to repurpose them for free wifi, maps, local council services and so on but these experiments never last for that long.

The fundamental problem is the guy with the iPhone X has a contract for lots of 4G bandwidth and would prefer to just use that except for at home/work when the wifi gets used.

So you are left with customers for the service that have pay as you go SIM only contracts for an old iPhone 4S.

[jstanley]

Why is the guy with an iPhone X a more desirable customer than a guy with an iPhone 4S?

[Spooky23]

People who spend a grand on a phone tend to buy other things.

[rco8786]

...but the product is free WiFi.

[tinbucket]

I think the real product is the data of the person using the 'free' WiFi. The WiFi is a service designed to gain access to that product. In that instance, the data of someone spending £1,000 on a phone is more valuable than the data of someone using a PAYG iPhone 4S.

[Spooky23]

Carrier signals suck in many parts of NYC. There’s a value for on street WiFi.