Subway Cell Phone, Wi-Fi Service Will Work in Most Tunnels

Nooooooooo! and those Nextel chirpers are so annoying!

How long until someone remembers that cell phones are the number one triggering device used by terrorists around the world.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-06-12-cell-phone-bombs_x.htm

I, for one, am ok with data and SMS but please... NO CALLS!!!

Same goes with airplanes.

How can one start a petition to ban cell phone calls if this indeed goes forward? Ideas???

I hate the noise on the trains. But you know what? A lot of people like noise, and they don't care that you hate it.

It's like drugs -- people like 'em, so they don't go away. Same with IPod noise, and screaming into phones.

I'll have to buy lots of earplugs.

www.forgotten-ny.com

Does anyone else with an iPhone get a wifi signal in the subways? I'm usually on the 123 trains, and I'll have wifi "bars" but no service. So there's a router in the subway but it's not connected to the internets?

But yes, this is awful. This will be worse than people who blare music out of their phones.

I ride the 7 train everyday...which is mainly outside...and the amount of chatter can drive you batty. The conversations are loud, inane, and usually completely unnecessary. I once heard a guy screaming into the phone that he needed to go home first to "take a shit".

As 1stephanie said, I foresee my headphones getting, much, much louder.

I'll just continue to do what I do now on the Xpress Bus -- be the other end of the conversation. Why not? They're talking loud, I can talk loud too especially if I want to mock them.

the mta must be a polarity responder: "oh, the riders want to keep the fares the same? fuck'em. oh, they do not want underground signal? fuck'em."

and i, for one, would like to know what he's having for dinner tonight so that i can tell him, "hah! mine's better than yours. got a pic of your wife?"

Not to worry-the denizens of the subway will still be preoccupied with clipping toenails, eating sunflowers seeds, chinese food, and fried chicken-while scattering litter all over the place. I think cell phone service underground is essential-how else will anyone be able to find you when a crumbling ceiling at a neglected-for-decades station finally gives way-burying hundreds on a platform?

"I SAID I WOULD BE THERE IN 5 MINUTES!!!!...5 MINUTES!!"

Who's paying for this?

I'm just curious because i really don't know...

but with all the MTA financial problems, this is not something we really need. we need trains that run and clean stations at reasonable fares... not wireless and phone reception.

In a related story -- stabbings are up.

By the time this goes down, I won't be able to afford the subway anymore anyway so who cares.

It would be awesome if they could set it up so you could use data and SMS, and make emergency calls, but not any other types of calls.

i would love the ability to check email and use text messaging underground. phone calls, not so much...

I used to live in Washington, DC, where they've had cell phone service on the trains for a while. From my experiences, not that many people actually used their phones for making calls on the train anyway; it was too loud, and reception is always spotty underground no matter what. I can't say whether it will be any different here, but I think it won't be that big of a bother and people will tend more to use their phones for checking e-mail/internet/sending texts instead of making calls.

I'll take that bet. If you think you won't have countless people shouting into their phones over the sound of the rumbling train and screeching breaks, then you aren't paying attention. I pray it takes forever for them to get service into the subway.

I'm going to go deaf from listening to my headphones so loudly. The subways filled with other people's dramz is my nightmare. Can't wait to see the first fistfight!

Earplugs are your friends. They protect your ears from chatterboxes as well as loud announcements, train rumbles, brake squeals, buskers, and all the other additions to the maddening stone-deaf-by-sixty cacophony that is the Subway. Combine with noise-canceling over-the-ear headphones and you're set.

(Earplug plug - CVS' orange foam earplugs are the best.)

There are hundreds of miles of track above ground in this city where people have unfettered access to cell service, and this is not a widespread problem there. It won't be a big deal underground, either.

Says someone who clearly never rides Metro-North or LIRR.

Says someone who clearly never rides Metro-North or LIRR.

Commuter trains aren't as bad as city buses. In my experience on the New Haven line the regular commuters keep their calls short or move to the door area for longer calls. Daytrippers tend to be louder. The noisiest riders are the college age or slightly older going to Manhattan for a big night out on Saturdays. They are always having a conversation with a friend they are meeting who is already at a bar.

You're part of the problem.

Do we really need another way for people to be inconsiderate on the train?

I don't know what else can be top when you have guys being intimate with their chicken on the train.

cell jammers.

Agreed, time to look into investing in one of those. The look on the faces of those who have their calls torpedoed would more than make up for the cost.

Do. Not. Want.