TTC resurrects plan to wire subways for cellphone service. ⇒
9 July 2010, early morning
This is already the case in Tokyo. In Tokyo is worked really well. The thing is, in Tokyo, no one actually spoke on their phones when on the train. There were signs everywhere telling you not to. There was also a button on your phone that would turn it to ‘subway’ mode, where it would be silent. People would text one another, while commuting in silence. Somehow I doubt it will work out quite as well in Toronto. “Riders who opposed it feared being sandwiched in next to someone yakking on a cellphone, Mr. Giambrone said.”
This is a post from my link log: If you click the title of this post you will be taken the web page I am discussing.
Hong kong has long had cellphone service in subways. And I get sandwiched between yakkers all the time. In Tokyo, the cellphone only works when you are not between stations. I still think the benefits of having cellphone service outweighs the downside.
by Tiff on July 9 2010, 10:25 am #
As soon as I heard about this my first thought went to wouldn’t free wifi be a lot more useful? (I don’t know about the cost difference, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was actually cheaper to do wifi too)
by pketh on July 9 2010, 12:53 pm #
Note that the TTC’s initial implementation will be at station platforms only. [Source]
Wifi would benefit a smaller number of people, and would probably be more difficult to maintain (in its current form), not to mention, who’s going to provide the network service if it was free? The riders? doubtful.
by Jason Tsang on July 9 2010, 1:31 pm #
Works pretty well in Chicago and Paris, and I don’t remember ever being annoyed with people chatting on the phone. Maybe my tolerance is high from living in NYC where every subway car is guaranteed to either have someone playing drums on a bucket or someone yelling about Jesus.
by pp! on July 9 2010, 4:12 pm #
Shall I just say that a lot can happen in one subway ride, like your house getting burglarized and the securityncompany trying to reach you while the cops arrive at your home and answers your dad’s long distance phone call and tells him that they could not locate their missing daughter.
by Tiff on July 9 2010, 10:07 pm #