Charge up those iPods — subway stations are about to get flooded with annoying cellphone chatter.
Six Manhattan subway stations will be wired for cellphone service starting next Tuesday, MTA officials said yesterday.
The much anticipated — and much delayed — development is part of the MTA’s long-term goal of making all 277 underground subway stations cellphone-friendly by 2016.
Only AT&T and T-Mobile subscribers will be able to receive signals on the wired platforms, but Transit Wireless, the consortium behind the project, is negotiating with Verizon and Sprint.
The six stations are the:
* F/M platform at 14th Street and Sixth Avenue.
* L platform at 14th Street and Sixth Avenue.
n 1/2/3 platform at 14th Street and Seventh Avenue.
* L platform at 14th Street and Eighth Avenue.
* A/C/E/ platform at 14th Street and Eighth Avenue.
* C/E platform at 23rd Street and Eighth Avenue.
The tunnels between the stations will not be wired, but there may be some “spillover” signal that will allow riders to use their phones on the train.
Straphangers greeted the news with both cheers and jeers.
“I feel like we should have it everywhere!” gushed subway rider Maya Dzhafarli, 22, of Staten Island.
But not everyone was enthused.
“It is annoying,” said Kyona Stevens, 16. “People don’t know how to keep their conversations to a minimum.”
Likewise, Queens resident Bennette Andrews, 21, said, “It is frustrating when people are talking and laughing, but is good for emergencies.”
Transit Wireless, a company created for the project, will pay the MTA a flat fee of $46.8 million.
The MTA will also reap half of all profits Transit Wireless makes once the company earns an initial $150 million, according to the contract they signed in 2007.