Even as municipal wi-fi efforts in Philadelphia and elsewhere founder, New York is getting, by the end of this month, a big fat zone of free wireless Internet access in the heart of midtown Manhattan:

Called the CBS Mobile Zone, this area of coverage will stretch through a bustling, tourism- and business-heavy swath of midtown from 42nd Street north to Central Park south, from Sixth Avenue west to Eighth Avenue. (Landmarks-wise, that’s roughly Times Square to Columbus Circle.)

The new effort will be supported largely by advertising. Upon logging on, Web surfers will come to a home page with “hyperlocal content such as breaking local and national news, sports highlights, weather reports, music discovery, wallpapers, ringtones, maps, a social network, and the ability to search for nearby restaurants, shops and entertainment complete with geographically-targeted community reviews,” according to a release from CBS. Citi and Salesgenie.com have signed on as sponsors. Some businesses within the midtown zone will also be equipped with routers to take advantage of the Internet access.

And what do you know, that’s just the part of town where I spend the majority of my waking working hours. Yippee! Looks like I’ll never want for a Web hookup for my iPod Touch again.

It’s confirmed for only the next six months, pending the success of (I presume) usage levels and ad sales. As similar efforts around the country managed to dry up quickly, I’m not counting on this offering lasting forever. However, it is New York — more people are out and about and in need of wireless access than in more car-centric cities. I’m cautiously optimistic.