Subway Wi-Fi service
Cellphone and Wireless Service Coming to More Subway Stations
More than a year after underground Wi-Fi and cellphone service first came to a handful of subway station platforms, officials said Monday that 30 more stations would be connected by "the end of the first quarter of 2013."
Transit Wireless, the company behind the project, had planned to complete work on these stations by the end of 2012, but said the rollout was delayed by Hurricane Sandy.
Currently, six stations in Chelsea have working service. The new locations include several of the busiest hubs along Manhattan’s West Side, including Times Square, Rockefeller Center and Columbus Circle.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Monday that it had received "good feedback from customers" at the first six stations and looked forward to the service's expansion.
Some riders have wondered whether underground phone service — and the platform-gabbing it spawns — is more gift or curse.
But William A. Bayne Jr., the chief executive of Transit Wireless, said the recent storm had laid bare the importance of underground interaction.
"A crisis such as Hurricane Sandy reemphasizes how vital telecommunications and mass transit are to our society and reaffirm our efforts to build much needed infrastructure throughout the New York City subway system," Mr. Bayne said in a statement.
In an interview last week, Mr. Bayne said he expected 40 additional stations, from Grand Central through Queens, to be wired by the end of 2013.
At the stations where work has already been completed, AT&T or T-Mobile USA customers have access to cellphone service. A partnership between Microsoft and Boingo Wireless has allowed free Wi-Fi access to anyone with a Wi-Fi enabled device as part of a holiday promotion.
Article source from: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/cellphone-and-wireless-service-coming-to-more-subway-stations/
More than a year after underground Wi-Fi and cellphone service first came to a handful of subway station platforms, officials said Monday that 30 more stations would be connected by "the end of the first quarter of 2013."
Transit Wireless, the company behind the project, had planned to complete work on these stations by the end of 2012, but said the rollout was delayed by Hurricane Sandy.
Currently, six stations in Chelsea have working service. The new locations include several of the busiest hubs along Manhattan’s West Side, including Times Square, Rockefeller Center and Columbus Circle.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Monday that it had received "good feedback from customers" at the first six stations and looked forward to the service's expansion.
Some riders have wondered whether underground phone service — and the platform-gabbing it spawns — is more gift or curse.
But William A. Bayne Jr., the chief executive of Transit Wireless, said the recent storm had laid bare the importance of underground interaction.
"A crisis such as Hurricane Sandy reemphasizes how vital telecommunications and mass transit are to our society and reaffirm our efforts to build much needed infrastructure throughout the New York City subway system," Mr. Bayne said in a statement.
In an interview last week, Mr. Bayne said he expected 40 additional stations, from Grand Central through Queens, to be wired by the end of 2013.
At the stations where work has already been completed, AT&T or T-Mobile USA customers have access to cellphone service. A partnership between Microsoft and Boingo Wireless has allowed free Wi-Fi access to anyone with a Wi-Fi enabled device as part of a holiday promotion.
Article source from: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/cellphone-and-wireless-service-coming-to-more-subway-stations/
