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German Railways To Get WLAN RailNet

Posted by Zonk on from the wlan-spiderwebs dept.

wertarbyte writes "According to the German IT news site Heise, german Telekom and the german railway corporation Deutsche Bahn have formed an alliance to equip the ICE high speed trains with WLAN access (Babelfish translation), as well as the stations those trains arrive at. This offer is aimed at business travellers, and will first be introduced on routes frequented by those ("travel time is usable time")."

7 of 202 comments (clear)

  1. I think... by game+kid · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...Google does a better translation; at least it has no odd question marks.

    Most interesting: "In order to lead the data from and to the driving course to, the British set on a Wimax net along the distance, which is to transfer up to 32 MBit/s" If that means download rates will be up to that much, I wouldn't mind something that fast on my DSL (mine barely reaches 3MBit/s). Especially in the middle of a railroad (unless that 32 MBit/s is shared by every commuter on the train).

    FWIW, here's the original I believe, for those that understand such a language.

    --
    You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
  2. Contractors... by scaltagi_the_pirate · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And if you work as a contractor..."travel time is billable time!"

  3. Will it work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    In my physics classes we learned that German trains usually operate at relativistic speeds (with effects that baffled many commuters until they were finally explained by Einstein).

    Will consumer-grade WLAN equipment be able to deal with issues such as Doppler shifted frequencies and dilated packet times?

  4. British railways already have this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    It is great. Access is free in the 1st class seats and the speed is good. I was travelling at 100mph on my way to London while IM chatting with friends in Canada.

  5. Re:Yes, but... by ambrosen · · Score: 5, Informative

    If it's anything like the service in the UK on trains that are almost the same speed, it'll be free in First class and start at about €5 for half an hour in Standard class. Of course, it may differ for whatever reason.

  6. The Germans get WiFi on their trains... by gwydion04 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... wherease we get no trains. Bush is planning to cut all federal funds for Amtrak, which will pretty much kill it.

    I want my uber-trains with wifi, darnit!

  7. Link to original article, not translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Some of us are not constrained to speaking only English. Please link to the original language of an article and if someone wants to translate it, they can post a babelfish or other link in the comments.