[Article] Iarnród Éireann offered free Wi-Fi network

[dowlingm]

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0616/wifi.html?rss

Monday, 16 June 2008 16:09
An Offaly-based technology company has offered to install a Wi-Fi network on Irish trains for free.
AirAppz is offering Iarnród Éireann a Wi-Fi network for passengers to use on their laptops, PDAs and mobile phones.
While there would be no cost for Iarnród Éireann, customers would most likely have to pay to surf.

The firm's Chief Executive, Evert Bopp, said passengers could use the service for around €1 an hour or pay a monthly unlimited subscription of €29.

Mr Bopp said his company is ready to roll out the service if it were given the go ahead.

There are several methods for delivering a Wi-Fi service to a moving train, but Mr Bopp said using existing fibre optic cables that run alongside main rail lines is the best solution.

By placing receivers on the trains to pick up the signal and repeaters along the tracks, Mr Bopp said a 2mb per second connection is possible. If the fibre optic option is not viable AirAppz has suggested a 3G network or a satellite connection.

AirAppz would make money from the venture through location-based advertising and ads would change each time the train passed a new station.

Iarnród Éireann spokesman Barry Kenny said it is planning to meet with AirAppz about the proposal.

Mr Kenny said it has had approaches similar to this one in the past, but cost has been the recurring issue.

'If it is beneficial to us and our customers we would consider it,' Mr Kenny said.

However, if AirAppz proposal is deemed viable, Mr Kenny said the contract would have to go to open tender.

Canada and several states in the US including California, Washington and New Mexico have installed Wi-Fi on their public transportation systems.

On the Iarnród Éireann website's Frequently Asked Question section, the company says it is not in the public's best interest to install the current wireless technologies for its customers to use on board its trains.

'Anything we install now is likely to be completely redundant within five years,' the website says.

Instead it advises passengers to obtain their own wireless solutions through mobile providers.

Mr Kenny said Iarnród Éireann has not put money into Wi-Fi because its priority is investing in more trains.

[Mark Gleeson]

I've met people from the main provider of this service in Europe, they being the guys who did GNER in the UK who remain the only UK operator to go wifi on all services

Firstly, this is extremely expensive gear, you can't use off the shelf consumer wifi routers you get in pc world or Peats, it has to meet rail safety specifications which is pretty hard to do. You have to physically cut a hole in the roof to fit a satellite receiver which has structural implications.

Of course the business case GNER developed for wifi was driven by remote access to the trains computer to diagnose and repair problems enroute, not passengers surfing the web. Its free to all passengers, but then again GNER where the best long distance operator in the UK, they had there house in order in passenger service terms

There is catch, no doubt heaps and heaps of ads will get dumped on me

The service is still appalling that needs to be addressed first without question

[Thomas Ralph]

You'll note that GNER folded last year...

[Mark Gleeson]

The company which owned them Sea Containters went belly up, GNER was profitable. Point is these guys had got the customer service angle sorted and started to look at value add

Irish Rail barely manage to provide a service on any level

[Laois Commuter]

I agree with the IE website comments on this one. Wi-Fi on trains is largely a pointless gimmick nowadays. Times have moved on - most who want net access on the move have it via mobile provider either in to phone, laptop or PDA - and speeds and coverage will oinly improve as time goes on. The only people to benefit would be the provider and (presumably) IE thorugh profits.

LC

[James Shields]

Pretty much any IT equipment will be obsolete in five years, but that doesn't mean it's not worth doing. Having an outside company handle it is probably the best solution, though.

The mobile network has is good up to a point, but 3G coverage can be patchy, especially since the mobile providers don't seem to make coverage along rail lines as big a priority as along roads.

[Mark Gleeson]

The website presents no indication of service to mobile clients, everything is referenced as point to point or fixed hotspots[1]. No case studies are presented to indicate successful deployment in any field, no white papers on the technology, no endorsements from happy customers nor are any existing clients named this is most unusual in the tech field. No published peer reviewed material in the journals from what a little bench research. Its all rather blank[2] Other companies provide considerable detail as a matter of fact[3,4]. Google revealed nothing useful.

We want to believe its possible, just no publicly available info makes us very wary compared to the opposition

We are fully entitled to be skeptical in this context as the target customers we will end up paying for whatever is provided, nothing is free there is always a catch. The established providers, eg Icomera aren't giving it away for free, T-Mobile/uknomad aren't doesn't look like Siemens are either. We have been promised all kinds of wonderful things, few have ever been delivered. What little we get is usually poorly done with little consideration of the end user.

More than happy to revise post and formally delete the comment should some publicly available proof appears, which will massively improve the credibility of the whole thing. I am as many members will know in the wireless medium access control business myself

[1] http://airappz.com/services/
[2] http://airappz.com/projects/
[3] http://www.icomera.com/customers/gner
[4] http://www.uknomad.com