WiFi comes to the MTA

It looks like some of the stations in New York’s public MTA system are finally getting free WiFi service, provided by corporate sponsor, Boingo.  Earlier this week the Transit Authority rolled out the first phase of their effort to provide WiFi access at high-traffic stations, city-wide. Our home station, 42^nd St. at Times Square is among the lucky recipients of the new service. While it may seem that this is a step toward a future where we can all watch streaming videos from Hulu or Netflix on our way to work, the MTA views it as a security issue.  The tunnels have not been equipped with WiFi service, only the stations themselves, and this is so passengers can more easily report suspicious activity and emergency situations. So if you hoped to spend your commute catching up on some Facebooking, you’ll have to wait a bit longer. There are currently no plans underway to bring WiFi to the EC Nover 700 miles of track of the NYC MTA.