Wi-fi On Subways There Go Our Personal Lives

By Author: Kevin Carothers
Total Articles: 1
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According to Brian X. Chen in The New York Times' Bits Blog: This summer, New York subway riders might be able to actually get some work done on the train (rather than just beating their high scores in Temple Run). Beginning Monday, free Wi-Fi will be available at a number of stations courtesy of Google.Boingo Wireless teamed up with Google Offers to provide the Wi-Fi, which Google will pay for until September 7, according to Chen. After that, phone and work addicts will have to pay a subscription fee. Boingo said its Wi-Fi would be available in 36 New York subway stations by the end of the year, and in 270 stations in the next five years. The company offers several service plans for its Wi-Fi, such as $10 per month for unlimited use on any two Internet-enabled devices, or $8 per month for unlimited access on a mobile device.There are plenty of places to "actually get some work done" in New York City. There is Wi-Fi in public parks. There are 132 branches of The New York Public Library. Coffee shops. Those also exist here, in addition to office buildings and the boxes-with-doorknobs we call "home." Cell phone reception ...
... was bad enough, but this is the last straw. We are being denied the basic liberty to pretend we did not receive an email on off-hours. We have lost the freedom to guzzle coffee, scan the tabloids and have wordless existential meltdowns as we travel to the places where we pretend to be competent worker bees.The subway was for dreamers, drunks, and the halfway-caffeinated masses. The subway was our dirty, mobile, oyster. Now, the world is our office. Three cheers for "progress."But Your dreams of WiFi connectivity from within NYC's subway stations will soon be a reality. Boingo has announced an agreement with Transit Wireless to offer wireless internet service inside the Big Apple's subway stations. The partnership will allow eager commuters the chance to connect via their smartphones, tablets, e-readers and other WiFi-equipped devices. One-click access will be available to those with a Boingo subscription as well as through the outfit's roaming partners: Skype, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. Right now, the plan is to roll out the new service to subway stations over the next five years. If you're jonesing for a few more details, hit the PR button below to read on.And There's a secret mobile network being tested on New York City subway cars this week that could pave the way for far more than anonymous hot straphanger hookups.It's happening on certain cars on the L Train, the favored line of models, style aficionados, musicians, artists, and others zipping between some of the city's hippest neighborhoods (and other stops not cool enough to get into in this context). "The L Train Notwork" doesn't actually connect them to the World Wide Web, but it seems that way at first. Instead, users are linked to fellow riders in a chat room, plus webby-looking visual and literary content curated by the digital agency WeMakeCoolSh.it. Maybe one day soon, they'll get exposed to an ad or two, too.The pirate Wi-Fi stunt comes as city officials probe a last bastion of Big Apple downtime: the subway. Despite recent efforts of the Metro Transit Authority to bring Wi-Fi and cell service to subway platforms in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York's trains remain an unconnected space.