Free Wi-Fi at Chelsea subway stations, but not in the tunnels
Map of new Wi-Fi signals. Transit Wireless.
11:34 am Jun. 25, 2012
Now through September 7, subway riders traveling through Chelsea will be able to access their email while their trains are in the station.
The on-again off-again access is by design.
"That was an M.T.A. call, that they wanted service in the stations only, not in the tunnels, so that you are not disturbed riding the subway," said Pat Smith, a spokesman for Transit Wireless, the M.T.A. contractor charged with installing cell service in the system's 277 underground stations.
Since September, the following stations have had cell phone service for AT&T and T-Mobile customers: the A, C, E station at Eighth Avenue and West 14th Street; the L station at Eighth Avenue and West 14th Street; the C, E station at Eighth Avenue and West 23rd Street; the 1, 2, 3 station at Seventh Avenue and West 14th Street; the F, M station at Sixth Avenue and West 14th Street and the L station at Sixth Avenue and West 14th Street.
Today, Transit Wireless announced that thanks to a sponsorship deal with Google Offers, those stations would now also have free Wi-Fi, available to all electronics users, regardless of cell phone provider.
If Google Offers isn't happy with its sponsorship deal and Transit Wireless can't find another, then the Wi-Fi will remain, but straphangers will have to pay for it.
Carriers like Verizon and Sprint have yet to sign on to Transit Wireless program, which means their clients have had neither cell phone service nor email access in the subway.
By the end of the year, 30 additional stations will also have cell service via T-Mobile and AT&T, including Times Square, Columbus Circle, and Rockefeller Center (the full list is pasted below). It's unclear at this point whether they will have Wi-Fi, and if they do, whether it will be free or paid.
Here's the list of the 30 stations:
1, 2, 3, Station, W. 96th Street & Broadway
1 Station, W. 86th Street & Broadway
1 Station, W. 79th Street & Broadway
1, 2, 3 Station, W. 72nd Street & Broadway
1 Station, W. 66th Street & Broadway
1 Station, Columbus Circle, W. 59th Street & Broadway
1 Station, W. 50th Street & Broadway
1, 2, 3 Station, Times Square, W. 42nd Street & Broadway
1 Station, 7th Ave. & W. 28th Street
1 Station, 7th Ave. & W. 23rd Street
1 Station, 7th Ave. & W. 18th Street
B, C Station, West 96th Street & Central Park West
B, C Station, West 86th Street & Central Park West
B, C Station, West 81st Street & Central Park West
B, C Station, West 72nd Street & Central Park West
A, B, C, D Station, Columbus Circle, W. 59th Street & Broadway
B, D, E Station, 7th Ave. & W. 53rd Street
C, E Station, 8th Ave. & W. 50th Street
B, D, F, M Station, Rockefeller Center, 6th Ave. and W. 47-50th Streets
A, C, E Station, Times Square, 8th Ave. & W. 42nd Street
N, Q, R Station, 5th Ave. & W.59th Street
N, Q, R Station, 7th Ave. & W. 57th Street
N, Q, R Station, 7th Ave. & W. 49th Street
N, Q, R Station, Times Square, W. 42nd Street & Broadway
R Station, W. 28th Street & Broadway
R Station, Madison Square, W. 23rd Street & Broadway
7 Station, Times Square, W. 42nd Street & Broadway
Shuttle, Times Square, W. 42nd Street & Broadway
F Station, 6th Ave. & 57th Street
E, M Station, 5th Ave. & 53rd Street
