A debate years in the making: Mobile coverage in NYC Subways

Courtesy of CNET

Or maybe decades in the making. Cell phone coverage has finally arrived at 6 of the NYC Subway stations in an official form. Some of the underground passageways have been known to have a signal or two leak in, but this is a first for NYC. Decades late behind other underground train stations in the United States and around the World, it's finally here which seems to be the case you always throw the direction of the MTA. Service can be found in the following stations for the GSM carriers of AT&T and T-Mobile for the time being:

• A, C, E station at Eighth Avenue and West 14th Street;
• L station at Eighth Avenue and West 14th Street;
• C, E station at Eighth Avenue and West 23rd Street;
• 1, 2, 3 station at Seventh Avenue and West 14th Street;
• F, M station at Sixth Avenue and West 14th Street;
• L station at Sixth Avenue and West 14th Street.

Typically you would think this would be much of a non-story, but the New York Media seems to have a way of making something out of nothing.

This is where Second Avenue Sagas comes in. This happens to be one of my favorite blogs with discussion relating to the ongoing construction of the 2nd Avenue subway line, which directly affects me as a Upper East Side Manhattan resident. But discussion also ranges around a plethora of transit related matters. In this case mobile technology fits in with a wide range of heated opinions. From interrupted quiet below, which I find hilarious, to the rudeness of some and this is something I can agree with. More importantly the author Benjamin Kabak also goes into discussing the city divide around this issue with most of the outer boroughs already experiencing coverage inside of trains running on elevated structures and in trenches with miles of track between them. Seemingly the outer boroughs of NYC handle the issue just fine. So what's Manhattan's problem? Hit the link above and check out the story. It's a pretty solid read provoking some intriguing thoughts.