Wi-Fi May Soon Be Coming to a Tunnel Near You

Cybersecurity is a big deal. You use your smartphone for so much more now than phone calls, reading email, and chatting. You shop with it, you pay bills with it, and you sometimes send personal data, like Social Security numbers, on your device. If you use public Wi-Fi, then you should get in the habit of checking its security. Click here to check your network’s connection speed and security:

Read More: How Safe is it to Use the Wi-Fi at Starbucks?

You are busy multitasking: you are making a phone call and getting your schedule set for the day, when you enter a tunnel on the subway and lose your signal from the station altogether. It’s certainly a frustrating experience. But it should soon be a thing of the past in the U.S., if BAI Canada’s recent efforts to install Wi-Fi in Toronto’s subway tunnels are any indication. So far, L.A.’s metro is leading the way for Internet access in subway tunnels.

The First Step: Wi-Fi in Subway Stations

It all began with Wi-Fi and cell service in NYC subway stations. Riders had to take a moment to log in while at the station platform, and while there was a slight annoyance factor there, it was better than nothing. When there was a train delay or you were simply stuck waiting, you could better pass the time and catch up with the endless amounts of email and messages to read, and add items to the day’s to-do list.

Internet Access in Subway Tunnels

Although NYC has far more traffic on their subway system than L.A. does, L.A. is ahead of the game: they are currently offering cell service and Internet access on select lines. The L.A. metro has been slowly rolling out cell service in tunnels, which is currently being offered on the Purple Line and all of downtown. Soon, they will be expanding cell service to all of the Red Line.

While there isn’t Wi-Fi access on all L.A. trains just yet, this move is still promising — it shows that there is an interest in Internet service on the trains, and that U.S. subway stations may be taking tunnel service more seriously in the near future. As for when Wi-Fi or cell service will become available on all NYC subway lines, that is still unknown. Hopefully we can look forward to this service within the next few years.