The New York subway system, that bastion of gentility and mutual respect, is about to get a cell-service upgrade, allowing people to talk n' text in all 277 underground stations.

Cell service is already pretty easy to pick up in a station, especially those in midtown. The new 10-year deal stops short of offering service in moving trains, but that hasn't stopped the usual public-transit cellphone brouhaha from kicking up.

I dunno. When I ride the subways, people are loud and everyone is squeezed together, but naturally there's no cellphone talking. On the more comfortable commuter train, annoying people chatter on phones constantly. In both cases, I tune out the irritants with a decent pair of earbuds. Is there still room for the debate? Or should we just wire the damn world and get it over with? I am leaning toward the latter. [NYT]

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