BART expands wireless network to underground stations in downtown Oakland

By now you’ve probably noticed that your mobile phone gets a signal in our underground stations in Downtown Oakland. We recently installed the equipment to eliminate the "mobile phone dead zone" at 19th Street, 12th Street/Oakland City Center and Lake Merritt stations along with all the tunnels in between.

Now whether you need to be connected for work or fun while riding BART, you’ll find a continuous mobile signal for you to text, talk and surf the web on your wireless phone from Balboa Park into downtown San Francisco, through the Transbay Tube and all throughout the Oakland underground as long as you are a customer of a major wireless phone company (smaller carriers may join the network later).

We understand that every minute counts, and we hope that by giving you the ability to catch up on work or socialize while in our stations and onboard our trains, you’ll be able to make the best use of your valuable time. However, we do ask that you be courteous to other passengers. Please keep your voice down and, whenever possible, text instead of talk. Also, please do not use your speaker phone. In 2011, we hope to have mobile phone service throughout the remainder of our tunnels and underground stations, including those in Berkeley and on the Peninsula.

Meanwhile, on a separate track, a company called WiFi Rail is expanding their WiFi presence throughout the BART system. This project is separate from the mobile carrier service, and you can find out more about it at http://www.wifirail.com/.