Can you hear me now?
Strangely enough, if you're in the the Lincoln Tunnel, the answer is probably yes -- mostly because it's been wired for cell phone service and thus is ironically one of the best places to make a call in the city, according to anew Wall Street Journal study.
On the flip side, the opens spaces of the West Side Highway were some of the worst spots to make calls. But that comes as no surprise to New Yorkers -- the highway's poor cell service was ridiculed by Jon Stewart on the Daily Show just last month.
Dropped calls are most frequent around roadways and in some neighborhoods and suburban counties, the study showed.
Only 92 percent percent of New York City cell phone calls go through, according to the study, which didn't take into account bad connections and fuzzy, unintelligible calls.
Compared with other major U.S. cities, New York's cell phone service is less than stellar; Chicago, Dallas and Seattle are all above 98%, which is a high margin when dealing with such large populations.
Tall buildings, reflective glass, heavy demand and proximity to water are some of the reasons for the poorer service, the study reports.
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The study, based on research from market analysis company Nielsen Co., includes a map outlining dropped calls and dead zones.
To cope with the ever-increasing demand for cell service in the greater New York City area, cell companies are moving to lay down high-speed fiber-optic cables.
Critics say carriers should have better-prepared for the increasing demand, and the carriers point to the billions of dollars spent each year monitoring and testing networks from the field, the Journal reports.
