It used to be that if you were riding the subway, you were effectively shut off from mobile communication. For hearing people, this amounted to a minor annoyance. For people with hearing loss, having to re-establish a relay call is nothing short of a major hassle, especially if a drop out in service could occur at any moment.

Now if you live in a few select cities, you're among the lucky ones. In the San Francisco Bay Area, for example, WiFi Rail has announced a deal to provide high-speed WiFi (802.11 in geekspeak) throughout the BART transit system and on all BART commuter trains. Tests on trains moving at over 81 mph have consistently demonstrated upload and download speeds in excess of 15Mbps, according to WiFi Rail's web site.

What these speeds mean is that the world of communication is now wide open, even if you're underground. You can do email and Instant Messenger. You can make Internet relay calls. Theoretically, you should be able to make video relay calls.

Service on BART is scheduled to begin on selected segments during 2009. Four downtown San Francisco stations and some segments of tunnels are already fully functional. Of course, this service doesn't come without a cost. Thus far, this service has been free, but once the system is complete, the charges will be in effect. WiFi Rail offers three distinct plans to match travel needs: day, monthly and annual passes, and corporate accounts also available. What about a TAP plan?

WiFi isn't limited to the SF Bay Area. Commuter rails in other cities are getting smart, like TriMet's Westside Express Service (WES) in Portland, Oregon, which just had its grand opening. WES has free wireless Internet access on board. A train system operating from Worcester through Framingham into Boston, Mass., has also added Internet access in a pilot project. At least one car per train will have Internet, with the plan to expand to all 13 commuter lines.

One metropolitan area that doesn't seem to have anything yet is New York City. Peter O'Hara lives in Larchmont, NY, but commutes to the city every day for work. "Having WiFi on our rails would be huge for all commuters - many already use wireless cards to connect to their networks, etc. on their laptops," says O'Hara, a cochlear implant user. "It would open up the ease and ability for deaf folks to be connected to others via relay, IM, text, email, etc. It would be much faster and more efficient using relay via WiFi."

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