Good news for any New Yorker who hates interacting with others during their daily commute (read: all New Yorkers): Wi-Fi and mobile service are coming to a subway near you. Yup, now even the Mole People won’t be able to escape the outside world.
According to Bloomberg, after three years of stalled progress, Transit Wireless LLC — a conglomerate of wireless and construction companies that was awarded a contract to undergo this project with New York Transit — has finally found the money to move forward. Broadcast Australia has footed the bill, which will bring NYC up to speed with Singapore, Berlin and Tokyo — all of which currently have Wi-Fi in the tubes.
Back in 2007, Transit Wireless LLC had promised to get the job done in 10 years, now it has two years to outfit six stations near New York’s Union Square, and then four more years for the other 271 platforms. The Wi-Fi comes in the form of smoke detector-size antennas, and will afford passengers access on platforms, mezzanines and in sections of the tunnels (not the whole tunnel). Overall, the whole deal will cost $200 million dollars — which begs the question: If the city’s willing to go to the trouble to go wireless, why do I have to take a shuttle nine weekends out of 10 because they’re “doing repairs on the tracks”? But I digress…
Pretty soon, it seems, a goodly portion of NYC will be Wi-Fi ready; AT&T outfitted Times Square with free wireless two months ago and ubiquitous coffee chain Starbucks offers pro bono access as well. Just think, that whole “I was stuck in a tunnel” excuse is never going to be the same…