Caltrain commuter rail pulls WiMAX at 79 mph
WiFi trains aren't anything new, and even WiMAX has made an appearance across the pond, bringing sweet, sweet Internets to those lucky commuters. Well now we're getting our own taste of the action, and the specs couldn't be sexier. The Caltrain commuter rail service has hooked up 16 miles of their track between Millbrae and Palo Alto, using WiMAX backbone from Redline, connectivity from Nomad and in-train WiFi routers from Sensoria to provide speedy connections to commuters while traveling at 79 mph. Tests of the system seemed to work dandy, with several commuters watching streamed video, pulling large file downloads and even answering email simultaneously. Now that the tech has been successfully demonstrated, they're planning on building it out across the rest of their line. The future is indeed nigh.[Via dailywireless]
Filed under: Transportation, Wireless
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Intrepid @ Aug 7th 2006 9:33AM
Ooh, WiMAX. The same system that causes people in some european country to feel 'sick' and blame wireless technology.
Claudiu Spulber @ Aug 7th 2006 10:08AM
Wi-fi on a train? Nahh, "snakes on a train".
Shaun @ Aug 7th 2006 10:25AM
Why 79mph? Is it some kind of Back to the Future thing where the train jumps through a time vortex if it breaks 80?
Euqinhcet @ Aug 7th 2006 10:31AM
@Shaun
It was 88mph!
a_Nobody @ Aug 7th 2006 10:45AM
I was told by an Amtrak conductor in the middle of July that 79 was their speedlimit.
Todd kelley @ Aug 7th 2006 10:48AM
I was on the train and got home hotspots listed on laptop, but i coudldn't connect. Gotta keep tryin...
Eazy @ Aug 7th 2006 11:35AM
Nothing special here. It's only 12 minutes of WiFi.
xenokilla @ Aug 7th 2006 2:28PM
@Eazy, dude, have you ever heard of a pilot project? this was done as a test to see if the idea would work, not that it does there going to build it on the whole line, or did you miss that last part?
Shadyman @ Aug 7th 2006 6:00PM
@shaun:
Because they have yet to jumpstart a wimax router with a jiggawatt of power.
TObject @ Aug 8th 2006 5:50AM
So if I chase the train in my car I can get Free WiFi?
Sweeeeet! ;-))
Trains in US are so before yesterday you can find similar models in Japan's antique railroad museums! So 79 is da limit, man!
JBo @ Aug 8th 2006 9:59AM
Ooooh cool. I might start taking CalTrain again! Now if only they'd put parking in at the 22nd street station. Hint hint. Hello? CalTrain? Can you hear me?