Photo by Nivad

Back in August, WMATA announced that the first phase of the Congressionally imposed expanded cell phone network inside D.C.’s Metro system would be completed by October 16. That date, by which time Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, AT&T and T-Mobile customers should all be able to access their networks inside the 20 busiest underground Metro stations, is coming up fast. And earlier this week, it appeared as though some of the stations might already be wired up.

On Tuesday night at about 11:15 p.m., DCist was able to access the AT&T 3G network while standing on the platform inside the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station. L’Enfant is one of the 20 stations that is part of the first phase of the expansion, which also includes Ballston, Bethesda, Columbia Heights, Crystal City, Dupont Circle, Farragut North, Farragut West, Federal Center SW, Foggy Bottom-GWU, Friendship Heights, Gallery Pl-Chinatown, Judiciary Square, McPherson Square, Metro Center, Pentagon, Pentagon City, Rosslyn, Smithsonian and Union Station.

So we checked in with both WMATA and AT&T to see whether the project was indeed coming along on time, and if some stations, like L’Enfant Plaza, were perhaps already done.