Wi-Fi by Rail, Bus or Boat

securitas writes "The New York Times' Glenn Fleishman writes about the growth of 802.11x WiFi wireless Internet access on commuter rail, bus and ferry boat now that it's commonly available in restaurants and coffee shops. The article also has an illustration by Al Granberg of some of the techniques used to achieve ubiquitous WiFi in motion."

Comments

social implications

[shackma2]

I wonder what the social implications of the growth of WIFI are. Coffee shops and cafes and trains used to be a place where people would sometimes sit alone, be bored, and sometimes start talking and meeting people. Now with WIFI, you'll be able to work whereever you go, could this have any sociological effect?

Re:social implications

[arieswind]

Obviously, employers will be able to squeeze more working time out of their employees, giving them even less of a chance for a social life. Soon all they need is cars that drive themselves, and there won't be a waking moment where employees can't be working. Thank you capitalism

Re:social implications

[nomadicGeek]

Thanks to capitalism there isn't any obligation to be an employee. You can always shop the market for a better employer or better yet, employ yourself.

The people that I know who have developed marketable skills set their own hours and have more opportunities than they have the time to pursue. Thank you capitalism.

Quit acting like you don't have any choice in the matter.

Re:When will it end

[Armando_Mcgillicutty]

I wouldn't count on it ending anytime soon.

Why the paranoia anyway? The worst that is going to happen is someone hacks your WEP and steals your bandwidth, since your PC itself should be secure, in addition to your wireless connection right?

Right???

Re:Security

[daringone]

Hopefully widespread adoption of WiFi services fuels the market for wireless network security. I know somebody who can't use his WAP because his neighbors keep hacking his encryption.

Well, it's not that hard when your settings are:

SSID: linksys
Broadcast SSID?: Yes
Wireless security enabled?: No

I don't think it's so much the need for more security as it is the need to get people to actually use the security that's already there. I know of no wardrivers (personally) that even bother with an access point that doesn't broadcast it's SSID, is not the default SSID, and has WEP enabled. They'll find someone with the above configuration and wreak havoc.

Great?

[Dibson]

While I think Wi-Fi is really exciting - I just got an iBook with an airport extreme card - this is getting to be a bit much. People who carry laptops with them to/from work while commuting are probably at work on the computer all day. Now they're going to travel and use the internet? And then get home to their broadband connection and check their email?

Internet connectivity blanketed everywhere would be amazing. The convenience is great, but we need downtime and to interact with other people. If you're looking to occupy yourself on the train say hi to the person next to you. A person is an incredible thing - they probably have all sorts of stories that you can hear from no one else.

Maybe no one cares about that. But there are so many other issues. Imagine the security problems that come out of this. And what kind of costs is going to incur on the user? Advertising? By the minute? And trouble from illegal activity happening through these AP? It'd be great if it works out, but I think this is some time away.

Re:Just in case the decide to pull the reg crap

[jallison]

So, Wi-Fi would cause more people to use public transport and thus help to copy with traffic jams?

Perhaps. It's something to make you a bit more productive during your commute. Living in Southern California I am very familiar with how a commute by car just eats into your day. Many people in this area spend 3-4 hours commuting every day. That is pure wasted time when you are alone in your car.

Now if you could be fully productive -- or even just entertained -- during your commute, maybe you'll make that extra effort to take the train, ferry, or whatever.

Of course around here the problem is lack of options...the train doesn't come anywhere near where I live.