The Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority’s plans to expand cell phone service in the 20 busiest Metro stations may create a spotty patchwork of underground service during it’s first year, according to a report from from The Washington Examiner.
The service expansion, a provision of a $1.5 billion stimulus bill passed in Congress last year, is required to provide initial coverage by October 2009. Though major companies like Verizon, Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile will have service in the 20 busiest stations, cell phone coverage won’t extend to 27 other Metro stops until October 2010, and won’t be available in the underground tunnels until October 2012, according to The Examiner. Currently, only Verizon users and Sprint customers who pick up the Verizon signal get service in underground stations, according to a Metro news release.
The first 20 stations to receive underground coverage will be the Ballston-MU, Bethesda, Crystal City, Columbia Heights, Dupont Circle, Farragut West, Farragut North, Federal Triangle, Foggy Bottom-GWU, Friendship Heights, Gallery Place-Chinatown, Judiciary Square, L’Enfant Plaza, McPherson Square, Metro Center, Pentagon, Pentagon City, Rosslyn, Smithsonian, and Union Station stops.
