Full cellphone reception expected for T subway by year's end AT&T, T-Mobile have signed on
By Matt Rocheleau Globe Correspondent / May 21, 2012
All underground portions of the MBTA subway system should be fully wired for cellphone reception by the end of the year, the company designing and installing the network predicted.
But many T riders may have to wait longer before they can talk, text, and check e-mail throughout the system's 19 miles of tunnels: Only two major mobile carriers, AT&T and T-Mobile, have immediate plans to introduce or expand their subterranean coverage.
Verizon offers service at four downtown stations and the tunnels between them but has not announced plans to expand its coverage. Other carriers have not worked out agreements with InSite Wireless, which signed a contract with the T in 2005 to oversee the project. The company charges carriers to connect to the underground network and gives a percentage of the revenue to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
The T expects the deal will net the agency about $5.3 million over the course of its 15-year contract with InSite Wireless. That figure should rise as the areas where cell service is offered expand and as more carriers sign on, said MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo.
...