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."

Comments

How would wifi really be used in an RATP station

[derekb]

Just thinking about my work I've done in Paris.. there are many times the stations are simply swamped with people. Laptop wifi is just out of the question. Far too many people and no real area to sit down. Besides, you only have minutes in a subway stop before your train comes. Even with Hibernate, my W2K box takes a while to be ready for use.

That really only leaves handheld devices, like a trusty ole iPaq. But.. with anyone with an iPaq (or laptop for that matter) probably also carries a mobile telephone - probably with bluetooth.

So in the 5 minutes you've got in the subway station, why not just go to street-level, turn on your PDA, and connect via GPRS. The iPaq with bluetooth is fantastic for downloading and running a quick scan on your email.

Plus if you really want to sit down and check your mail or surf, then zip off to a Brasserie for a coffee too. .. this idea just doesn't seem practical, but maybe I'm missing something. It seems more of a bandwagon folks are jumping on.

Gare du nord now has WiFi.. I spend many hours sitting there waiting for my trains. Hey that's a great idea - wire up the trains themselves with WiFi. A Thalys or TGV with WiFi access would rock.

Largest Wi-Fi antenna EVER.

[pmbuko]

I can see it now: Pringles cans mounted all over the Eiffel Tower...

The hard part is finding enough French people to eat the chips.

WiFi Icon = FRANCE

[Pzykotic]

Hey, that icon slashdot uses for WiFi stories certainly looks familiar...