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First UK On-Train WiFi Service Launches Monday
dave writes "UK train company GNER starts trials of the UK's first on-train wireless Internet access service. Currently only available on limited services and in First Class; if the trial is successful the service will be rolled out across the entire fleet in both Standard and First Class."
...was making the first class coaches into Faraday Cages so the dweebs in Stanard Class couldn't snag some airtime.
I can also see some desparate geek trying to download his e-mail -- while zipping along at 100 kph in his car, parallel to the train.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
in the UK is not the lack of wifi, it's that I never arrive at my destination on time, as there's always delays for some reason. Don't try to run before you can walk, eh.
When anger rises, think of the consequences.
Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)
I've seen one go by while I was at the train station on day waiting for the commuter train but it was going by a bit too quickly for me to try to grab a connection with my axim x3i :P
What's wrong with going with wifi because its cheaper?
"It is not how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it exists." -Ludwig Wittgenstein
Its unfortunate that this is currently only available in one carriage, one would imagine that the expensive bit is the satellite uplink (assuming this is how they do it, although I saw GSM mentioned somewhere), distributing the wireless within the train should be the easy bit.
I will guarantee you if you put ethernet ports out, within hours they will be plugged with chewing gum. Its just the way people are. Most of us are pure pigs. Talk to any custodian of a public place if you don't believe me.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
on a standard rate ticket the train cars are massively over packed during commuter periods. thankfully the gner routes are not as popular as the ones in the south and south-east.
that this has happened at all is a nice and due to competition from virgin trains who operate on the western main line up and down the country, who offer laptop and mobile charging, etc. on your journey for a business class ticket. they operate their trains more like they operate their airlines than the other rail operators. it is true that i'd like to see this service offered across the board for the entire train network eventually by the majority of operators.
since privatisation (the railways used to be pubically owned) the responsibility for the track network and the train operators has been split leading to more massive accidents than ever before. imagine if the internet was run by idiot companies with no idea about how to run a network with all the isp's just putting more traffic over a poor backbone infrastructure that was already in place, with little or no investment in that infrastructure, with all the maintainence work contracted out to the cheapest sub-contractor.
WiFi is fine, but packing 200 passengers into a small train carriage and allowing each to use a WiFi transmitter is just stupid.
Not as stupid as packing 200 passengers into a small train carriage that has CAT5 cabling trailing everywhere!
I recall reading about Amtrak working with yahoo to provide net access on the trains.. I don't know if it panned out, and google searches just come up with old articles. Anyone know what happened?
Looking now, I see that the local train is testing wifi on certain routes.
Now maybe people will send "I'm on the train" emails, instead of forcing the whole carriage to listen to one half of your mobile phone conversation.
30 seconds at a time, several times a day, that is. "The 14:55 from Aberdeen's coming, get ready to hit reload!"
I'd be interested to know how the expect to get DSL-level bandwith from GSM technology, especially when more than one person will be using the line.
Also, in my experience public WIFI providers tend to charge an arm and a leg for the service. I'm sure the trial is free, but I can't see it remaining that way when the role the service out to "standard class". 1 per email, anyone ?
Sounds like a desperate attempt to upsell seats in first class to me. I doubt if it's going to work because you're either willing to pay thru the nose for a special seat or you're not, how does better internet access make a difference? I already can and do get an adequate bluetooth/GPRS connection anyway, even in economy class.
Also the UK train system does not have a particularly good record for efficiency, they really struggle with the retailing computers in the snack-bar so why do I not have a good feeling about their ability to operate a satellite link. Personally I would put "not crashing" at the top of my train wish-list instead of wi-fi.
"Don't belong. Never join. Think for yourself. Peace." V.Stone, Microsoft Corporation
Here is a link (PDF). Sorry it's in French but I can't find one in English. Here is the Google translation of the HTML version.
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The technology for this is provided by Icomera. There are some more data about what their technology does, though not really much about how it works. Their speciality seems to be "Seamless Handover" between the different types of network connection.
If intelligent life is too complex to evolve on its own, who designed God?
"The nine-*crackle* packets from *garble* will now be arriving at platform *mumble*."
What would be really cool is access to a real-time train map like the controllers see, then you can see the real reason your train just stopped in the middle of no-where for 15 mins with no explination. Also - and i dont think transportation people have really caught on to this fact: things always seem faster when you have a moving progress bar on a screen (it has to move every second). People want to be able to see whats going on and when - thats why people like the count-down displays at bus stops and on the tube.
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Never mind the connection speed varying - we're all gonna die !
To really enjoy this train wifi, we need a LAN Game protocol designed for publically used WiFi locations. This would let people publish a list of which games they might like to play and support connectinons to others. Any LAN-playable game would need some type of plugin that provides information about how to connect to other (i.e., a Chess app would only let one other person connect, an MMORG would define which scenarios different people want to play, etc.) That way the person in car 2 could find a game buddy in car 4 without any prearrangements with that person.
I see only two problems. The first is security. Depending on who programs the protocol, it could end up with exploits. Also, the games might provide a channel for exploits if someone uses a hacked copy of Doom to insinuate themselves into another rider's laptop. The second problem would be playability when the person in car 3 decides to use the 5 hour journey to download the latest Linux distro.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
This is a great step forwards.
People will complain about late or cancelled trains but the fact is that no journey is every fast enough if you're not enjoying yourself, and no journey is too slow if you're having a good time.
The question therefore is: will on-board internet links make life better or worse for travellers? And the answer is obviously "yes".
With a notebook and wifi, even long waits are entirely bearable and can be fun. I'd rather a four-hour train journey with wifi than a two hour flight without.
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Hat you read the GNER web site carefully, you would see that it is only installed in one coach of one train, and at the speed they would normally pass, you would be unlikely to have time to achieve a connection anyway.