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Wi-Fi and Cell Service Coming to All Underground Subway Stations in Queens

By Jeanmarie Evelly | February 20, 2014 11:16am
 Subway riders board a Jamaica-bound E train at Jackson Heights-74th St. station.
Subway riders board a Jamaica-bound E train at Jackson Heights-74th St. station.
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DNAinfo/Tuan Nguyen

QUEENS — Straphangers in Queens soon won't have to hang up when they go underground.

Wireless cellphone service and Wi-Fi are being installed at all of the borough's 29 underground subway stations in the coming months, officials announced Wednesday, part of the second phase of the MTA's plan to connect the city's transit system.

Transit Wireless, the company handling the project, said it will also bring service to 11 more stations in Midtown Manhattan, including Grand Central Terminal, 34th St. Herald Square and Bryant Park.

Those stations and the Queens stations should all be equipped by June, the company said. They'll join the 36 Manhattan stations that have already gone wireless.

"The MTA's firm commitment to bringing our transit system into the 21st century continues to bear fruit with new technology that will improve our customers' daily commutes," MTA head Thomas Prendergast said in a statement.

The expansion is expected to provide wireless to nearly 250 million annual riders, according to Transit Wireless. The company is planning to connect all of the city's subways stations by 2017, at the cost of approximately $200 million.