Many BART commuters who can't wait for a wireless journey under the bay were disappointed Tuesday, as the new service touted by the transit agency offered spotty phone and Internet connections, if at all.

Phone calls from at least two of the four carriers that installed and paid for the wireless access dropped as usual as trains entered the Transbay Tube, texting was often unavailable, and Internet pages failed to upload.

"I'm still looking forward to it," said Mia Mondragon, who was headed from Hayward to her job at Macy's in San Francisco when she lost a T-Mobile call with a friend just as the train ducked into the 3.6-mile tunnel. "But it just looks like it will be a while."

That's just fine, however, with some riders who dread the prospect of their fellow passengers screaming into their phones to make themselves heard over the tube's roar.

"I love going through the tunnel," said Darcy Adams, who hops on in Walnut Creek for her daily commute into the city. "That's when everybody who's blabbing on the phone has to shut up. I like the peace and quiet."

All wireless by 2011

The wireless access was installed over the weekend by AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint Nextel and Verizon. Hooking up mobile devices for the four-minute Transbay Tube ride is supposed to be a major step in offering Internet and phone service along all BART tracks by 2011, said transit agency spokesman Linton Johnson.

But the latest announcement also highlighted the tension between some commuters' desire to travel in relative silence and others' craving of mobile phone access everywhere.

"With any new technology, there are some drawbacks," Johnson said of the complaints. "But people also want to be able to talk to their loved ones and say, 'I'm on my way home.' It isn't just about them talking; now they can text or e-mail if they want."

Tuesday morning, what some riders wanted was to try out the new service.

The Bay Area's iPhone users stared blankly at the "searching" symbol while in the tunnel, unaware the AT&T network was not functioning.