New York’s subway system is gearing up for a much needed upgrade to its cellular coverage. According to the New York Times, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has approved a plan to outfit all 277 stations with cell phone access.

The coverage will not be extended to cover the tunnels themselves, but finally people in the station will be able to talk and text to their heart’s content.

Can You Hear Me Now?

The total cost of the project is estimated at between $200 and $250 Million over ten years. About $50 Million of which will go to New York City Transit for the right to wire the station. Private cell phone carriers will have to pay the company that won this bid a fee to carry their signals.

Beside the obvious convenience of being able to continue your cell phone conversation all the way up to the door of the train, there is also the question of safety. Now, emergency services will be more easily available for patrons in case of an emergency.

The consortium responsible for this project, Transit Wireless, is made up of Nab Construction, Q-Wireless, Dianet Communications and Transit Technologies. Their original bid was for $34.4 Million, but after negotiations it increased to the nearly $50 Million that they are paying out now.

Web 2.0 Roundup

A side effect of allowing cellular phone service in the underground is that all of our connectivity appliances that rely on those networks will be able to work. Everything from your Treo’s push email, to your iPhone’s wireless internet.

Six stations will be wired over the next two years. It will take four more to get the rest of them ready for prime time.

[Be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed before leaving]