Network operator Sprint announced its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network and improved 3G service will be available in the Bronx and Brooklyn beginning on July 30. In addition to the Bronx and Brooklyn, customers are finding 4G LTE in parts of Manhattan, Staten Island and Queens–which are expected to officially launch service in the coming months, the company said.
“Whether you’re uploading videos from your neighborhood in Brooklyn or sending photos to your friends, Sprint 4G LTE provides impressive wireless data speeds,” Karen Paletta, regional vice president of Sprint, said in a statement. “We think that New Yorkers of every age and background, as well as customers of Sprint’s prepaid brands, Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile USA, will appreciate Sprint’s improved 3G service and 4G LTE.”
Sprint is projected to provide 200 million people with LTE by the end of 2013. The network is also offered through its prepaid brands, Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile USA, as well as Sprint Emerging & Wholesale Solutions, which offer wholesale 4G LTE service to Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs).
City straphangers will be pleased to know that more wireless availability is coming to the New York subway system—in the stations, at least. Transit Wireless, which owns and operates the subway station wireless communications network, and Sprint announced that the companies have finalized their contract to bring Sprint’s wireless voice and data service to the wireless network in the New York subway system.
Sprint has signed on to the full scope of the project–all 277 underground subway stations. Wireless customers of Sprint, Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile can expect to begin receiving coverage underground in 36 stations in midtown Manhattan and Chelsea in early 2014.
“New Yorkers love to use their mobile devices all the time to stay connected to friends and business associates around the city,” said Keith Dardis, regional vice president of Sprint. “We are excited to provide commuters, public safety representatives and first responders in the Bronx and Brooklyn the robust benefits of better 3G service and new 4G LTE–and this network will continue to grow in New York City in the coming months.”
AT&T, T-Mobile, WiFi provider Boingo Wireless, Transit Wireless, executives from the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA)—which runs the subway system—and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo jointly announced April 25 that 30 additional subways now support wireless service, bringing the total to 36.
T-Mobile and AT&T rolled out service in six stations in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood in September 2011. Extending service to the next 30 stations marks the end of Phase One, in a seven-phase plan that will bring coverage to all 271 stations by a goal of 2017.