Mobile Computing News

Underground mobile signals are now occupying the Glasgow underground. Glaswegians will now be able to communicate via their mobile phones even when they are at underground stations. They can also surf the Internet on their smartphones while commuting from five stations on Glasgow’s subway system. This service is exclusively available for O2 customers and O2 has teamed up with Arqiva for this purpose. Arqiva will provide its transmission network to connect the O2 phones roaming at the subway to the outside world.

This new innovation will allow commuters to make calls, surf the Web and do other mobile activities at platforms situated at Buchanan Street, St Enoch, Govan, Partick and Hillhead stations. It will undoubtedly open up new lines of communication, as customers can get full use out of their smartphones, like the BlackBerry 8220. However it’s up to consumers whether they welcome it or not. According to a survey last year, 80 percent of commuters in London wish to have such type of service while others just remarked it as a disturbing element.

O2 claims that this is the first time any company has launched such type of services in UK but as per the records the Newcastle’s Tyne and Wear Metro system have already deployed an underground signal since 2004 which let commuters enjoy uninterrupted communication.