Cell Phone Use on the Subway is Coming Soon to NYC

If you live in New York City, you're about hear some extra noise while waiting for the Subway.

It won't be construction of the Second Avenue subway or a brigade of babies crying. Instead, it's going to be people talking on their cell phones.

A source has confirmed to International Business Times that the Metro Transit Authority (MTA) will be partnering with AT&T and T-Mobile to provide cell phone coverage at the platforms of certain subway stations. An earlier report from AM New York outlined the details of the plan.

The stations that will be get coverage as part of the initial program are all stations along 14^th Street including A, C, E, F, L, M and No. 1, 2 and 3 trains as well as the C and E train station at 23rd Street. By 2016, every single subway station will have service. Thus far, it will just be platforms for now as tunnels and trains are not wired for service.

An MTA spokesperson declined to comment. MTA reportedly will make a formal announcement next week.

New York City isn't exactly breaking any ground with this move. San Francisco, Washington D.C, Boston and Chicago have all had subway cell phone service for a while. Cell phone service actually caused a lot of trouble in San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit System (BART) shut off service to prevent protestors from meeting up. The move caused a lot of trouble for BART, which got hacked by Anonymous.

Follow Gabriel Perna on Twitter at @GabrielSPerna