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Paris, The City Of Wi-Fi?
TheMatt writes "An article at the IHT describes an effort to make Paris one big Wi-Fi hotspot. The project, with partners like RATP and Cisco, if approved, will place two or three antennae outside each of the 372 Metro stations in Paris and link them through an existing fiber network that runs through the subway tunnels.
The current pilot project is centered along the route of Bus No. 38. You can sign up for access to the pilot which is free until June 30."
that was a long time ago - see this press release for example talking about wifi activity.
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/Feb2003/4849.htm
A typical Parisian doesn't spend 15 minutes per day in the subs but at least more than an hour.
There are at least 10 million people who live and work circa 50km from the Eiffel Tower. If they can spend their 3-4 daily travel hours surfing the net or IRC-ing their f3ll0ws, then they'll find it easier.
Trolling using another account since 2005.
re/read the article. There is no service on the metro. I know, i've read about this elsewhere, and that's definitely true on the test, and will probably be true for the final version due to problems with ground penetration (the wifi hotspots are above ground, stations are just a convenient location).
In addition to the networks listed in other posts, this one has been running for about a year and a half now.
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Paris is more wired than any city I know of. The Metro tunnels are packed with fiber, and there is always a Metro station nearby within the city limits. Also, the RER (Regional Trains) are packed with fiber, which extends the reach of Cable companies, and anyone else who wants to be part of the telecom crowd.
Also, just as in the U.S., the long distance rail has loads of fiber running alongside it.
All of this adds up to make france a VERY well connected country. Almost Anything you could possibly need will be found on the internet in France.
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Good points, and good questions. Yes, since, I start at the beginning of the line (both ways), I can ALWAYS get a seat. And yes, it fills up quickly, and through the city centre, it's standing room only, which doesn't bother me because I'm seated. :-) Anyway, These days I can read the newspaper with no problem, and that's what I do each day on they way in. (I also try to just miss the rush hour on the way in, since I have some flexibility.) The laptop takes up even less room than the newspaper.
:-)
I would feel completely safe on line 1. It is all open between the cars. There are indeed some lines where I would feel uncomfortable with anything expensive, but Line 1 is really safe.
I wouldn't be too concenered with Corporate espionage really. I would obviously save anything really sensitive for when I arrived at the office, however, it is important to remember that there are always people reading over your shoulder. They aren't necesarily spying.. They are just bored.
So, in conclusion, yes, it's pretty safe, and it would work for me, but on other lines, (2 and 7 for example), I would be much more reluctant to try to do much real work.
-- -- Warning. Do not stare directly at the sun.
While much smaller in scope, Atlanta, GA is receiving something similar. The folks over at www.freebeeatlanta.com are setting up hotspots in a major area of Atlanta for free use. I am somewhat skeptical of their business model, though I have high hopes for it.
Their old site mentioned possibly rolling out in other cities, as well; unfortunately, the new site is less than informative.
Umm, a properly built wireless network can basically scale infinitly. Microsoft has a wireless network at the Redmond campus where they have literally tens of thousands of people on a network in a fairly small area. The only major problem they have had is trying to do streaming video to an entire lecture hall sized room over .11b. Most broadcast traffic isn't actually passed in a well designed network anyways (especially one used by the public rather than inside a company).
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Maybe it was Antoine de La Mothe Cadillac, founder of Detroit in 1701.
Considering that the Eiffel Tower was opened in 1889, and Marconi sent his first transmissions in 1896, it is highly unlikely that it was designed to be an antenna. However, Eiffel realized its potential, and a permanent radio station was installed in 1906. The first experimental television broadcasts began in 1921.
The WiFi pilot at the Gare du Nord uses prepaid cards. The cheapest card costs 5 euros and provides 20 minutes of access (about US$5.65).