IT'S ALIVE: MTA Launches Cell Phone Service At Subway Stations Today

(James Thilman/Gothamist)

Today, the MTA, along with T-Mobile and AT&T, introduced wireless service for your mobile devices at six Manhattan subway stations. Not only will you be able to text, email, tweet, and chatter, but you'll have easier access to 911, and dispatchers will be able to tell when a call is being placed at street level or underground, adding a new level of security. "I think it's brilliant," said a woman as she hurried onto a downtown A train at 14th Street. "So convenient and it will make the subway safer too." Well, it's convenient and safer if your carrier is AT&T or T-Mobile. Verizon customers will have to wait for the train with only their thoughts for company.

Similar service has been available in San Francisco since 2006 and in Boston since 2007, but with 1.6 billion riders each year, the New York City subway system is one of the most heavily trafficked in the world. Asked about possible terrorism threats posed by cell phone service, Transit Wireless CEO William Bayne demurred, saying, "That is a question I would direct to the NYPD." Notably, cell phones were used to detonate bombs that decimated public transit systems in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2006.

Most straphangers we spoke with were enthusiastic about the fact that soon they will never have to disconnect. "I just can't believe it wasn't done sooner," said one commuter. "How hard could it be? We can get service everywhere. You can get the Internet on an airplane now. It just makes sense to have it in the subway." On the other hand, photographer Joshua Bright wasn't buying the idea that we deserve to have wireless underground. "Just wait and see. The second everyone hears about this new technology, they'll switch from appreciation and awe to entitlement."

New Yorkers can now enjoy wireless service at the following stations:

A, C, E at 14th Street
L at Eighth Avenue
C, E at 23rd Street
1, 2, 3 at 14th Street
F, M at 14th Street
L at Sixth Avenue

Over the next year, thirty more stations—most on the west side—will be outfitted with Remote Fiber Nodes, including major hubs like Herald Square, Times Square, and Columbus Circle. The full build-out of the network at 271 stations is expected to take about four years at a cost of $100-200 million, with a company called Transit Wireless footing the bill with the carriers .

Eager to try out the new technological advance, we placed a call from the field to Gothamist HQ:

HQ: Wow, are you calling from the station?
Field: I'm walking down to the actual platform!
HQ: Narrate every step!
Field: Halfway there!
HQ: Any hotties?
Field: [unintelligible]
HQ: Listen up, historians, history is being made!
Field: Most people are getting full service. ... Can you hear me? The C train is coming in right now! I've got full bars.
HQ: Wow, the C train arrived promptly? This really is history!
PAUSE
HQ: I wish we had anything important to say.
Field: I'll think about it and call you back.
HQ: One small call for man, one giant leap for obnoxious assholes of all kinds?

Expect to hear a lot of similarly stimulating conversations at high volume over the next few months. As Henry David Thoreau once said, "We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate." Of course, Thoreau didn't have Twitter!

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By James Thilman in News on September 27, 2011 5:17 PM

Comments [rss]

Pronab Patra

How have people solved their problems bofofe they get network in subwa such as emergence situation. Tt is like, if you see a horse then you need to ride on its because you just remember that you have injure in your knees.It is not our fault, it is our habets because of our laziness.

pavvv

this is going to be a nightmare

GregJG

I'm with the photographer. Also, it's bad enough these teenie bobs yap all day up above on their cells. Now I have to hear them underground. *sigh*

redo_undo

They should have just made an emergency system for the MTA exclusively. WORKING, easily accessible emergency phones throughout he stations. And some kind of wifi or satellite phones on the trains. Every moron in NYC doesn't need to be able to talk on their phone.

tittytwister5000

Bingo. I don't hear any of these assholes helping to land a plane or being called to perform emergency surgery.

It's all folks who can't go 10 minutes without hearing the sound of their own voice. It's a hand-held security blanket.

And the carriers are going to make a FORTUNE on people's insecurities.

That's why they bid with the MTA for the opportunity to set up subway access for free. They're not stupid.

JoanAngelson

This is NYC! If you want peace and quiet go back and live in your mommy's house in Georgia.
We make noise here, lots of it, always have.

xToddrick

Lame argument. New York City is amazing because of all it has to offer. Unnecessary noise is one of the negatives. Less noise would make living here that much better - and take nothing away.

JoanAngelson

Not true. Noise is the background of NYC. No such thing as unnecessary noise in NYC. Only has been a problem from people that come from out of the city and live here and complain about it.

Lloyd Bergenson

You are an idiot, a liar, and most likely a transplant. Yeah, I bet you love it when car alarms go off at 4am nonstop for 20 fucking minutes.

tittytwister5000

It's a troll from the Joey Boots blog.

xToddrick

You must live a sad existence. Do some research on noise pollution as it will be good for your health and wellbeing. Shall I assume that you think that parked idling cars and the health issues they cause are also part of the background?

tittytwister5000

Yeah, but now the noise is "Yay! Another Pinkberry!" and the incessant scraping of flip-flops.

UWS_CA

I can only anticipate actually making a call if it's an emergency. I'm just going to appreciate the ability to text someone that I'm running late, or that a water main break has f'd over the subway again.

Or I'll just check Facebook and email.

Ragingsemi

Yeah or uptown. I guess the only stations that matter are below 34th st on the west side.

kimpossibble

Why no love for the East Side?

Andy Battaglia

All you people complaining about this are obviously self-important and clueless Manhattanites who are not aware that 40% of the transit system in New York already has cell service because the tracks are elevated along several lines in the outer boroughs. There will always be assholes but for the most part, the trains don't explode or become intolerable the instant trains leave the tunnels and people start texting. Get over yourselves.

phone service

There are some who wants to talk on the phone on subways like those in other countries. And I think there are some who would agree on this idea of using their mobile phones on subway stations, just my two cents!

Crihs

should focus on the less crowded stations. Thats where the real problems lay at night.

Lloyd Bergenson

My daily commute is one of the few times I can enjoy reading in relative peace. It's bad enough having to endure deadbeat panhandlers on the subway intruding into my personal time (Why do tourists keep giving them change?!?!)... I don't think I can stomach having to listen to obnoxious ringtones and the inevitably insipid conversations that follow.

I hope this experiment fails.