After years of waiting (and frustration), some New York City straphangers will finally get cell phone access in NYC subways starting Tuesday. Well, kind of.
It’s a slow roll out.
Starting Tuesday, cell phone service will be available at six subway stations as a “pilot program”. So, if you’re lucky enough to be a regular subway rider at the pilot stations and be either a T-Mobile or AT&T mobile customer (no word on Verizon yet), then subway cell service is in your immediate future.
AT&T and T-Mobile customers will be able make calls and go online via their cell and smart phones on platforms at stations along the 14th Street corridor, including the A, C, E, F, L, M, 1, 2, and 3 platforms and at the C and E 23rd Street station platforms.
The MTA is throwing in a surprise….it’s not quite clear from the announcement whether mobile service will work between stations or be limited to the platform….but we’ll find out in a few days.
In addition to having quick access to the outside world in the event of an emergency and instant alerts on service (which never seem to be broadcast well over the PA), the promise of data access while riding the subway is exciting.
For the rest of us New Yorkers and Big Apple tourists who ride the subway outside of the “pilot program” stations, we have to wait another several years. The plan is for all underground subway stations to be up and running with mobile access by 2016.
Flickr: Paul Lowry
Source: Gothamist
I’m not sure how excited I am for people to have loud, obnoxious conversations on their cell phones while I’m riding the subway…
And I’ll miss the “sorry I missed your call; I was underground” excuse. But I have Verizon, so I guess I’m safe for now!