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Glasgow will imminently launch the first fully Underground transport network with mobile coverage. Network operator O2 struck a deal in September this year to launch a service for its customers to allow mobile voice and data access on platforms at five selected stations.
I think this will make an interesting test-bed both in terms of equipment reliability and the wider reaching question of social acceptability. There was a time when mobile use was frowned upon outside of the office or home, as if the user was invading the public space with their personal lives. Now however we have cases of mobile addiction, where being separated from your phone can cause symptoms similar to drug withdrawal.
If these platform tests in Glasgow are a success, dependant on customer feedback, one would expect opening up the access to within the tunnels and from there its only a short hoop skip and a jump to the London Underground and a potential future of tourists calling home to brag they are on the Piccadilly line, intermingled with the joyous chorus of the office workers with the all important message that they will be home in ‘about 25 minutes’ and that the ‘line is running a little slow at the moment’.
However this technology may have a positive side in easing the communications issues sometimes experienced by emergency service workers in deep line stations. Whilst the Airwave project will hopefully alleviate many of the issues in early 2009, the O2 project appears to be ready to go and launching in Glasgow any day soon.
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