Results tagged “cellphones”

Couple of headlines on local crime trends from the broadcast outlets worth looking at today.

Last week we got a little too excited about the impending expansion of cell phone service in the Metro system, but now it's official: T-Mobile, AT&T, and Sprint Nextel customers should be able to use their cell phones inside Metro's 20 busiest stations starting first thing Friday morning (the Post says it'll be turned on at midnight, but of course the system will be closed by then). Verizon customers could already access their network inside the same stations, and they will continue to have that service after the change.

Back in August, WMATA announced that the first phase of the Congressionally imposed expanded cell phone network inside D.C.'s Metro system would be completed by October 16. That date, by which time Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, AT&T and T-Mobile customers should all be able to access their networks inside the 20 busiest underground Metro stations, is coming up fast. And earlier this week, it appeared as though some of the stations might already be wired up.

I have three or four old cell phones sitting in the bottom drawer of my desk (along with roughly 20 cables and wires I have absolutely zero need for), so I'm relieved that today's rain means that the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District's "Flowers for Phones" promotion has been moved to tomorrow.

WMATA put out a press release this afternoon announcing that Metro's board has finally given the go ahead on a plan to build a new network that will allow companies besides Verizon to offer cell phone access in stations and tunnels. A contract has been awarded that will allow Verizon, Sprint Nextel, AT&T and T-Mobile to build a new wireless network inside the Metro system over the next four years, which would also eventually include wireless internet. In order to comply with rules written into a $1.5 billion funding package passed by Congress last fall, 20 of the busiest underground rail stations will have "expanded cell phone service" by the end of 2009.

A tip of the hat to Loose Lips Daily for pointing us to this nugget from NBC4 on Friday: Ward 2 D.C. Council member Jack Evans says he wants the District to "reconsider" its cell phone driving ban. Now, we've written before about how most D.C. area drivers appear to be ignoring the law and how while the number of tickets issued keeps going up every year, enforcement is still pretty lax and certainly doesn't seem to be discouraging many people from breaking the law.

Only a handful of people I know still have landlines at home. It's especially marked among people under 30, those of us who moved to the city and into a group house soon after college at a time when cell phones were basically mandatory. Maybe we've moved into nicer places since then, but who needs a landline? It's just an extra expense that seems increasingly redundant.

Buried at the bottom of yesterday's WaPo story about the $1.5 billion funding package for Metro passed by the Senate is this juicy tidbit:

The bill also includes a provision to improve cellphone coverage in the subway system. Within one year, the 20 busiest underground Metro stations would be required to have cellphone access for all carriers. Currently, only Verizon or Sprint roaming customers can receive signals.

Back in November of 2007, we cited a report from the Washington Times, which showed that citations for simultaneously driving and using a cell phone were sharply rising every year. Well, this year is no different - take a look at the chart to your right.

The Examiner reports again this morning on one of Metro's longest running teases: that some day, a contract could be awarded to build a wireless network inside Metro's tunnels and stations that would allow cell phone customers who don't use Verizon to use their phones as well. Metro first started talking about awarding such a contract two years ago, but nothing happened, and then last summer there was some more chatter, but still nothing. This latest round of mobile network titillation does sound slightly more promising, however, as it's linked to General Manager John Catoe's plans to modernize stations, platforms and trains by adding things like flat screen monitors.

You might be able to finally use your non-Verizon cell phone in Metro tunnels. Just don't hold your breath.

The Washington Times is reporting that the number of tickets issued by the MPD to drivers using cell phones without a hands free device has increased for the third straight year. In the first year after the law was enacted in mid-2004, the city dished out 7523 tickets. The following year the number rose to 8,358. This year, it's 9,484. The numbers raise a host of questions about the efficacy and enforcement of this law....

Good morning, D.C. If by any chance you're a contractor with the city, you may be in for a rude awakening this morning, as City Manager Dan "The Man" Tangherlini and Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra have ordered your cell phone to be returned. Apparently some non-employee contractors have been getting a pretty sweet deal from the District for some time in the form of free cell phones, the end of which will save the...

>> Don't forget: thousands of dirty hippies and the gun-toting maniacs who hate them are getting together for a big ol' hootenanny down on the National Mall tomorrow morning. It's the War on War on War. >> At the Washington City Paper, editorial assistants who make mistakes aren't just named, they're taken out back and tortured with one million paper cuts using the latest issue while Erik Wemple screams "you're not good enough to...

Today tens of thousands of District children return to school, leaving behind the late-morning starts, extended curfews and breaks at the public swimming pool that summer afforded them. And though the year will proceed as it usually does, they will be part of a school system that has seen drastic changes over the last few months. Now under mayoral control and led by new chancellor Michelle Rhee, the District's public schools have entered a new...

Written by DCist contributor Claire Compton

We at the Gothamist network would like to express our heartfelt wishes to the people of Minnesota in the days after their tragic bridge collapse. We're not trying to discount the severity of the accident by making note of it in opposition to our usual -Ist lightheartedness – we just wanted to take a moment and recognize those affected last week. After the Minneapolis bridge collapse, Bostonist did a little research and found that Massachusetts...

What with Paris Hilton's release earlier this week and the upcoming celebration of American Independence (sorry, Londonist!), we've been thinking a lot about freedom. Freedom to vote, freedom to choose, and most importantly, freedom to blog. Here are a few things we're happy we've been free to blog about this week. Being the nation's capital, DCist felt especially proud to let freedom ring this week by exposing the really important issues, like how sad they...

Suspects wait for a motorist to leave their vehicle unlocked and unattended and then quickly grab a purse, briefcase or other items while a customer is paying the cashier. In most cases the suspect is not seen committing the theft and often the suspect(s) are only seen fleeing in vehicles. It does not appear that these thefts are being committed by the same people, but are crimes of opportunity.

It shouldn't be news to anyone that conspicuously displaying your iPod on the Metro is going to make you a target for petty thieves and pickpockets, but the Metro Transit Police Metropolitan Police Force has issued another warning after a spike in iPod-related thefts on Metro over the last four months. Between January and April of this year, thieves stole 30 iPods from Metro riders. In all of 2006, thieves stole a total of...

There are a lot of rules when you visit Soho Tea and Coffee in Dupont. Customers must spend at least $5 to use the wireless Internet. No credit cards are taken. Non-customers are charged $3 to use the unisex bathroom, adorned with a helpful reminder than only one person is permitted in the single stall at a time. Two months ago, another rule went into effect: no cell phones at the front counter. Owner Helene...

It seems like, all across the network, folks were up to no good. Maybe it was all the green beer from last weekend... Gothamist spent the week writing about New Yorkers behaving badly: at the post office, at the Garden, and at the fertility clinic. Calvin Klein may not be misbehaving, but he's just a little dirty, and in a completely different way than some NYC kitchens. SFist had its share of misbehave-rs, too, like...

Watch where you step this morning, Washington! The Examiner brings us word that the D.C. Emergency Management Agency lists manhole cover explosions, like the one that brough traffic to a standstill around the National Mall last Wednesday, as one of the District’s 18 major hazards, alongside urban crime, hurricanes, terrorism and floods. See, D.C. has the second–largest underground power system in the country, which means underground fires which can cause those manholes to explode are...

Santa's workshop has come a long way in the last 40 years. In the most accurate historical documentary available on the subject, as recently as the mid-60s, the elves were equipped with only the skills necessary to turn out dolls, sleds, toy cars and trains, and other fairly rudimentary wood and fabric-based toys. Somewhere along the line, the Kringles must have signed up the little people for some intensive training, because the electronics coming...

In the caveman days of our youth, waiting for the bus was a simple exercise in patience. Stand there long enough and it would come...usually. However, in our current world of streaming, real time, to-the-minute, live updates, the wait has become as infuriating as a dial-up internet connection. Metro is working to ease our transit ADD, however, with a new system that provides live updates to riders via web-enabled cell phones or other handheld devices like Treos or BlackBerrys, or of course, your computer. The system is currently available system-wide on Metrorail, and on seven pilot Metrobus routes throughout D.C., Virginia, and Maryland.

The Nationals had an exciting game last night, tying the Phillies in the bottom of the ninth and again in the tenth, then falling just short in the 14th. However, you wouldn't know it from the Nats fans. We wrote about fairweather fans before, but this game was just sad - for one, a lot of people hit the exits as the 9th inning ended. So the Nats aren't in the playoff hunt and the...

While passers-by gawk and whip out cell phones to snap impromptu photos, Director Annie Gawlak and her cohorts sit across the street in G Fine Art and watch through their window in amusement. Giant disembodied heads sit in the open commercial space like the contents of so many baskets of French royalty after the Revolution. It's not a funeral home for the oversized though...or, perhaps it is, in a way.

The nation’s four largest wireless phone service providers are joining forces to land a lucrative contract to revamp and expand phone, Internet and other communication services across the Metro system, officials said Tuesday.

Continue reading "Needless Chattering on Metro To Quadruple"

In a media-heavy city like Washington, one might pay heed to the Chicago Tribune's story from yesterday afternoon announcing that a senior law enforcement official told ABC News, "It's time for you to get some new cell phones, quick," in reference to the government's tracking of calls with whistleblowers and other confidential sources. Makes you wish that Qwest expanded their service to the news media, if not the entire country, right? Williams Endorses Cropp:...

Shanghaiist probably knows a little more about China than the Chicago Sun-Times. Giving them the benefit of the doubt on that one. The city does to have a music scene. Don't even front like they don't. They also have Dorito bananas and white guys shopping for wives. What they don't have is any more tolerance for jaywalkers. Bostonist sees Boston and Somerville each whip out their art and face off. A plagiarized novel is the...