Wireless Service Begins at Six Underground Subway Stations

As a neutral host, Transit Wireless welcomes all wireless carriers to sign on. AT&T and T-Mobile have agreements covering the six stations which went live today, with the option to expand as additional subway stations come on line. Negotiations with other carriers are ongoing. Transit Wireless also expects to establish sublicense arrangements with Wi-Fi providers to give customers additional data and internet access in the near future.

Underground Subway Wireless Service – How it works

Wireless carriers who have contracted with Transit Wireless to provide voice and data service to their customers in underground New York City subway stations co-locate their Base Stations with Transit Wireless' Optical distribution equipment at a Transit Wireless Base Station Hotel, which is a resilient, fault-tolerant commercial facility with redundant air-conditioning and power.

Base Stations are provided by wireless carriers for each band and technology; 700-LTE, 850-Cellular, 1900-PCS, 2100-AWS and other. These Base Stations connect to Transit Wireless' Radio Interface and Optical Distribution System in the Base Station Hotel. Radio signals are combined, converted to optical signals and distributed on Transit Wireless' fiber optic cable through ducts under city streets to subway stations where the optical cables connect to multi-band Remote Fiber Nodes.

Remote Fiber Nodes are located on every platform, mezzanine and at various points within public access passageways. Coaxial cable is connected to each Remote Fiber Node and extends signals to strategically located antennas throughout each subway station. Utilizing this approach, low-level radio signals are evenly distributed providing seamless coverage from above ground to underground stations.

A Network Management System monitors the service; detects problems and provides alerts so technicians can be dispatched if needed.