Given the steady flurry of stories in the press in recent days about mobile phone provider EE allowing customers with selected handsets to make calls on Underground, I am worried.  When a Tube carriage is packed to the rafters – as is so often the case in the mornings – how will people be able to hear themselves think on their commutes into work if fellow passengers are belching into their phones. 

The new service for users with Lumia 640 and Samsung Galaxy Edge S6 / S6 Edge handsets makes use of wifi, so can technically only be used within reach of stations where this is installed. Expect passengers shouting, “I can’t hear you, I’m going into a tunnel….. I’m on a Tube…. I’m underground….WHAT WHAT…..”. 

We are now a week on from the “launch” and I’ve not seen a single person making a call, but in the weeks, months and years to come I can only see more people using their phones on the Underground – particularly as the service is added to more handsets and offered by more providers. Technology will also inevitably be improved in the coming years meaning that one day people may be able to make calls between stations.

This is just what I fear.

Since wi-fi has been rolled out in Underground stations, I have found the service useful, for example if my train has got stuck in a tunnel and I have needed to let someone know by email I am running late. I’ve also been used wi-fi to be able to plan my route after leaving the station.

But being able to make calls is a step too far, especially when passengers have – at times – so little personal space in carriages.

We can’t stop the technology developing, so the only thing we can hope for is that people only use their phones if making a call is absolutely urgent. Passengers could get aggressive if loud mouths are having a general chit chat right in their faces. With the prospect of fights developing over the issue, I hope people will be sensible as to when they use their phones.