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New York subways getting wireless signal boosters – get ready for crowded, annoying subway rides

Categories: Announcements,
By: , IntoMobile
Thursday, September 20th, 2007 at 12:27 PM

The one thing that makes stuffy, crowded subway rides in the Big Apple even halfway bearable is the lack of subway riders annoyingly chatting it up on their mobile phones. Well, the great city of New York is looking to change all that. Subway riders have been asking the city to make wireless cellphone signals available underground, and it seems New York’s higher-ups have decided to give them what they want.

New York City Transit Authority gives wireless coverage to subway stations

New York City Transit has announced plans to let Transit Wireless, the company that won the contract to build-out the wireless infrastructure, pay $48.6 million over the next 10 years to bring wireless coverage to the 277 subway stations that are currently sans wireless signals. Transit Wireless will also be paying for the cost of all equipment – estimated at $150 to $200 million.

The good news? Wireless coverage will only be extended to the subway station, and not the actual subway tunnel. So all those mobile phone talkers will have to finish annoying you before stepping off the platform and on the train. It seems that officials don’t actually want subway trains full of angry, annoyed riders.

So, data-addicted New Yorker, keep surfing the net right into the subway station. Just shoot out that email before you step on that train

[Via: NYT]

About The Author

Will Park

Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...

  • Stefan Constantinescu

    HSDPA in the Subway here in Helsinki, Europe rocks!