Subway Stations Around The Big Apple Will Soon Have Cellular Coverage

During the holidays, officials in New York had promised that all underground subway train stations in the city would have cellular coverage by the start of the new year. Well, train riding mobile users of the Big Apple will be delighted to know that there is some significant progress just barely a week into 2017. Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, has recently announced that all active subway stations in NYC will have cell service from all major wireless carriers in America (namely Verizon Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint) by January 9th. This means that apart from Wi-Fi coverage (which was rolled out just before the end of 2016), New Yorkers will be able to access cell connections while commuting by way of train. The only exceptions to the cellular service deployment are four subway train stations that are either currently undergoing renovation or are scheduled for renovation soon. Still, these four stations will have cellular coverage as soon as their respective renovation projects are complete.

Amazingly, the roll out of the cellular coverage has been delayed ever so slightly. Under the original plan, all subway train stations in New York City were to be connected before the start of 2017. Despite the little snags, the overall deployment has been going really well. Moreover, Cuomo is quick to point out that the whole endeavor should not cost any NYC based mobile user anything. As a matter of fact, Transit Wireless, a key partner in the project, has provider more than $300 million in funding in order to roll out both cellular and Wi-Fi coverage. But wait -- how will Transit Wireless recoup all that cash? Thankfully, it has a sharing revenue deal from the cellular network’s services. 

This development should be considered welcome news by many. But unfortunately, not by all. It is worth remembering that some actually do not mind getting a break from seeing people glued to their mobile devices, especially when utilizing public means of transportation. If you count yourself among them, be prepared. 

New York City is hardly the only city making an effort to get its subway train stations more connected. Nearly a couple of years ago, Chicago also did a similar thing, having the Big Four mobile operators in the US provide 4G LTE services to riders, through an LTE upgrade project worth an estimated $32.5 million, deployed over 22 miles of subway tunnels in the Windy City.