U Cellular upon Friday announced th...

U Cellular upon Friday announced the official launch of its service in the underground thoroughfares on the Chicago Transit Authority's cast down and Red lines. The service not simply will serve customers' from the nation's No. 6 small room phone carrier, but potentially also those using rival, on the contrary compatible, Verizon Wireless and Sprint services.

As 26 callers onward the derailed Blue Line train discovered last month they could use their enclosed space phones in a subway funnel to reach 911 for help from one side of to the other a new system then being ordealed by U.S. Cellular, the Chicago-based mobile phone carrier.

The novel communications system in 11.4 miles of subway funnels was still being tested last month The plan officially went live Friday forward the Blue and Red lines.

Brian Mehta, U Cellular's director of marketing, said the body is the first of its kind in Chicago and demonstrated his company's "commitment to this community."

"It's great [when you can use a confined apartment phone] to have a pizza delivered forward time," he said. "But safety is really important."

Mehta forceed that the system was aimed at U Cellular's customers. yet consumers using phones from rival Sprint and Verizon Wireless, can ride forward the U.S. Cellular infrastructure in the funnels for 911 services.

Verizon, Sprint and U Cellular all use a archetype of digital technology known as CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access).

Andrew Watts, U Cellular's regional returns manager, said, "Agreements for 911 are totally different from other marks of roaming [for phone and data services]. The carriers agree if you have a 911 conjuncture to let your call advance through and bypass all roaming agreements. If you have a CDMA phone [from any carrier], our network will not refuse your call."

Mehta conced that more [i]or[/i] less of the calls placed during the downcast Line derailment probably were made by way of Sprint and Verizon customers. yet he said, "We cannot provide a guarantee that the service will work" forward competing systems.

U Cellular in December signed a 10-year, $29 million lease with the CTA. The company began installing its gear and linking to the CTA's communications infrastructure in the subterranean passages and on the platforms and mezzanine areas last spring, Mehta said.

He said U Cellular set in its customer surveys that access to its services in the CTA subterranean passages including phone calls, e-mails, wireless Internet and sentence messaging, were important to its customers. As a flow he said, U.S. Cellular springed at the opportunity when the CTA suited proposals to provide service in the funnels

A Verizon spokesman said the carrier is still evaluating expansion to the subway, and negotiations continue with the CTA. Sprint spokeswoman Stephanie Walsh said, "We have no plans to build our network abroad in the underground."

Chris arises spokesman for Cingular Wireless said, "We are commonly evaluating future service on the subterraneous of CTA subway service."

hwolinsky@suntimes.com

WHO'S GOT THE HOOKUP?

Who can reach 911 from the subway via the U Cellular Network?

U Cellular says it guarantees its customers can reach 911 from the subway. Also, commonalty using phones from other mobile carriers using CDMA -- the principally common being Sprint and Verizon -- probably can reach 911 from the underground thoroughfares

Who can't?

Customers using phone with non-CDMA technology, similar as GSM phones from Cingular and T-Mobile and iDEN phone from Sprint Nextel can't conjoin to the U.S. Cellular CDMA network intelligent in the tunnels. However, near a subterranean passage opening, people using non-CDMA phone might be able to make calls in succession their own networks to reach 911

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