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WiMax Hits 100 mph on Rails to Brighton
judgecorp writes "T-Mobile has put a Wi-Fi service on the London to Brighton Express commuter service. It uses WiMax (ok, pre-WiMax) for the uplink, and is cheap enough to put on any other long-distance rail service. One interesting thing is that they didn't need to wait for next year's "mobile" WiMax version: the system can handover between base stations at 100mph, using today's pre-WiMax (802.16d) products. The only drawback - in June the free trial ends, and we'll have to pay T-Mobile's high Wi-Fi charges."
High charges? On the British rail network?
NEVER!!!
In a battle between WiMax and Doppler shift, I'm putting my money on Doppler.
If my experience of the London-Brighton line is anything to go by, the money would be much better spent :
i) installing more seats or adding extra carriages
ii) actually cleaning the inside of the trains from time to time.
It's no use getting a WiFi connection if you have to stand up the whole bloody way.
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
Never mind the wi-fi, I'm impressed by the fact that a UK train reached 100mph in the first place.
Am I the only one getting tired of all these uninteresting stories about WiFi being available here or there?
Yes, you can bridge hundreds of wireless routers and have humongous hot spots, yes you can get WiFi on moving spaces, yes you can go to the desert and have a connection over large distances and maybe beat this week's world record.
We know that.We really do. WiFi is great, it's this awesome magic thing that allows you to download the interweb out of thin air. Now knock it the hell off.
Thanks you.
When will T-Mobile, SBC, Telarama, et al all realize their wifi business model sucks? I mean seriously, 5 bucks an hour, 20 bucks a month? For scattered coffee shops and book stores that I maybe frequent once a week? None of them has anything near enough coverage to make a subscription worth my while and their hourly rates are way too high. Maybe for a certain sector of the populace, those earning six figures and those who spend a lot of time in coffee shops, this is acceptable, but to middle america (where the real money is) it stinks. Maybe if they all pulled their resources and allowed me to log into any of their collective hot spots for a reasonable (~$15) monthly fee I'd consider it.
There goes another brilliant service down the drain.
High User Access Charges: The reason why services like these remain hugely unpopular.
Irony though is, service providers spend a fraction of what they earn over these services. Yet the "its-a-premium-service-hence-we-milk-you" syndrome keeps them from bringing the charges down. When will the service providers understand that term premium is only notional. Mobile was a luxury only 10 years ago -- now a country like India as 100mn cell users -- why ? because its low-cost.
Price is an entry barrier -- and high prices let less and less people use a service, and recommend it to other users. I just hope T-mobile understands that and keep the charges minimal, so that more users use it. And OEMs can provide more cheap solutions leveraging the service -- like wi-fi for train-staff communication.
Bah ha ha ha. That would involve someone other than Branson buying new trains (not that it's improved service. Bransons 15 minutes off the journey doesn't help you when your journey is an hour late. Like on Saturday, and the seats are uncomfortable as well.).
Besides the rust holes on the roof improve the WiMax signal reception.
I've recently figured out why the South East is sticking to the ancient third rail system in use, despite the low maximum speed possible using it. It's so when we finally become a fully fledged third world country people will be able to ride on the roof of trains, just like you see in travel documentaries.
Philip
Signatures are broken
Great, now I can stand on the platform at Three Bridges and get WiFi access for free for a few seco...
It would be rather ironic if VOIP sounds better using a WiFi connection then it does using standard cell networks.
:)
Can you hear me? Now....now...how bout now? Wait just a sec, let me fire up Skype mobile. Ahhhh...much better.
Life is not for the lazy.
Take commuting into central London. Even with the outrageously high rail fares, it's still cheaper for most people to commute by train than car when you factor in the high-price of parking in central London, and not to mention the Congestion Charge.