September 8th, 2007
Rail commuters: Prefer on-train Wi-Fi or your own wireless broadband?
The always-knowledgeable Glen Fleishman of Wi-Fi Networking News posts an informative overview on several separate efforts to equip various California Bay Area commuter rail lines with on-train Wi-Fi.
As an enthusiastic Wi-Fi user, a non-infrequent passenger on these routes, AND as a major railfan, this issue impacts me in several ways.
First, some background on what’s been going on with on-train Wi-Fi efforts in the Bay Area.
After spending $300,000 on trials, Caltrain (SF to San Jose, with extensions to Gilroy) has just rejected two bids.
Altamont Commuter Express (San Jose-Stockton) on-train Wi-Fi is currently off-line, but its Railwave brand is “coming soon;”
Capital Corridor (San Jose, thru Oakland, to Sacramento, w/one extension to Auburn, Cal.) ) seems to be stuck in RFP limbo and as a result, isn’t exactly being fast-tracked (pun intended).
To me, the thought of Wi-Fi on trains evokes an even broader question.
If this Wi-Fi on rails is not free- say $9.99 a day, why not pay $49.99 or $59.99 a month for a Wireless Broadband card?
The ROI is obvious. Five or six days of Wi-Fi access a month at $50 or $60 vs. a whole month of wireless broadband? By virtue of being a commuter, you’d almost certainly be on that train more than five or six days a month.
On the other hand, Wi-Fi is faster. But then again, most of you train riders aren’t going to be downloading or uploading huge media files all that often to make thruput the major consideration?
Or would you?
Russell Shaw is an enterprise computing journalist, analyst and author based in Portland, Oregon. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
