The SF Chronicle reported yesterday that wireless service is apparently available in the Transbay Tube now between Oakland and San Francisco. From the Chronicle:
“(12-21) 21:51 PST — The latest wireless hot spot? Under the bay between San Francisco and Oakland.
That’s because four cell phone companies – AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint/Nextel and Verizon – have just turned on their wireless networks in the Transbay Tube, BART announced Monday.
“The best news is that the installation and operational costs are paid by the providers – not by BART,” said James Fang, president of the BART board.
Nearly 161,000 people take the Transbay Tube each weekday. Now their cell phones and laptops won’t have to be idle during the 10-minute or so ride under the bay.
Wireless service on BART has been gradually expanding since 2004.”
So I was looking forward to checking out this new service this a.m., but of course as expected crappy AT&T and their horrible network wasn’t able to get a signal in the tube on my iPhone once.
If all goes well, I suspect I *might* be able to get an Edge signal on my 3G iPhone if I’m lucky for about 20% of the ride by 2015.
Thanks for nothing AT&T!
Update: I tried the service again this morning in the Tube and it worked pretty well. I lost my AT&T 3G signal for the last 2 minutes or so of the Tube, but most of the time I was able to use the internet pretty well in the Tube. 🙂 Thank you AT&T and BART! An update from the SF Chronicle on the service here.
And that’s why I don’t have AT&T. As appealing as the iPhone looks, when push comes to shove, I just want coverage and for my phone to work when I need it to!
Glad to see it wasn’t just me. I read the same story, fired up my iPhone in the tunnel this morning and… nothing. Hopefully they actually flip the switch soon.