You’ll soon be able to use your phone in the New York City subway system.
It’s part of a $200 million renovation of the system, which, well, not to say that it’s falling apart, but it’s seen better days. There used to be a W train, for example. Memories.
The plan to wire the subway, at least parts of it, is at least several years old.
Several 14th Street stations were supposed to have been wired for Wi-Fi and cellphone service two years ago, but the company that was to do the wiring ran out of financing.
An Australian company has now stepped in with the necessary dollars.
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Subway systems all over the world, including those in Berlin and Hong Kong, already have such communications capabilities.
But again, I don’t think it’s too crazy to say that you’d rather see a fully functional subway system rather than a patchy one that just so happens to let you check into FourSquare as you stand on the platform.