Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway to get outfitted with WiFi

It looks like Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway (MTR) is the latest to hop on the high-speed wireless (in more ways than one) bandwagon. with it now set to offer WiFi in both its trains and train stations. Apparently, the trains will be outfitted with receivers to pull down 3.5G signals from transmitters in the tunnels, which then gets turned around into plain old WiFi for the passengers on board. While that convenience won't come free, it will be fairly reasonable, costing passengers HK$20 (or $2.50) a day for unlimited use.

[Via Akihabara News]

[Ty @ Jul 17th 2007 1:45PM]

HongKong trains get outfitted with WoW gold farmers, MMO players.

[mtipper @ Jul 17th 2007 2:04PM]

Mass Transit Railway FTW!!

[Zarniwoop @ Jul 17th 2007 2:10PM]

Just how long is the average train ride in Hong Kong?

[ET @ Jul 17th 2007 5:28PM]

I would say a typical ride is 25min. It can go up to one hour if you go from one end to the other.

[Richard Lai @ Jul 18th 2007 2:13AM]

Good point, I normally go on 15-minute rides usually, but still, I travel several times a day.

[Alex Jacobs @ Jul 17th 2007 2:11PM]

I can see a LOT of missed train stops, and paying out more money on trainfares because you stayed on longer than you should!

[ET @ Jul 17th 2007 5:29PM]

If you missed, you ride the opposite direction. You don't have to repay your fare. The fare is calculated by where you enter, and where you exit.

[Alex Jacobs @ Jul 17th 2007 5:33PM]

not if you go into another zone that you havnt paid for.... true for london anyway.

i havnt riden on the hongkong railway

[Richard Lai @ Jul 18th 2007 2:20AM]

Alex, if you travel into a different zone on the London Tube you can just take the train heading the opposite direction on the other platform without getting charged for penalty, unless you leave the gates of course.

Besides, you should come and check out Hong Kong - MTR is waaaay better than the Tube (not being cocky or anything). The Tube is way too small, rough and unreliable.

[John @ Jul 17th 2007 2:13PM]

As living in HK, MTR is very crowded in busy hours. And, you should not stay in the MTR area for a very very long period or otherwise you may get penalty fee when exit the gate. Quick checking mail could be good.

[CL @ Jul 17th 2007 2:44PM]

This may be more useful for the Airport Express line I supposed, but other wise like you said, I just can't imagine doing anything useful with it say around rush hour in Causeway Bay :-x

[Ypoknons @ Jul 17th 2007 2:45PM]

Fun if you commute from Tung Chung to Central (very roughly Flushing to dunno, somewhere downtown Manhattan). Otherwise the average train ride is pretty short. The cabins are also less crowded than the New York, London or Paris equivalents.

You won't pay more if you missed your stop - just get the train heading the other way. You'll be charged when you actually get out of the paid areas - and you don't need to go out to switch trains.

[Constable Odo @ Jul 17th 2007 3:05PM]

WiFi on the trains for the iPhone. Another place to sell a couple of million more iPhones.

[Patrick @ Jul 17th 2007 3:05PM]

When you live on the extreme east or west side of the red or green lines, and you need to go to city centers like Mong Kok, Central or "popular" locations, that ride could last 40-50 minutes. Longer if it's rush hour. The MTR is pretty boring, there's not much to do especially if you're standing around with no seat. I'd really enjoy this service myself, at the very least I could check email and not be totally out of contact.

[eJay @ Jul 17th 2007 3:06PM]

Yea that is a steal. You can also have JingJing and Chacha watch over your every move!

[Ypoknons @ Jul 19th 2007 12:20PM]

Hong Kong is not subject to internet censorship, or most of the censorship mainland China is subject to. We follow the British Colonial Hong Kong Basic Law, not the PRC laws.

Do your research.

[jayznymz-BGR @ Jul 19th 2007 12:24PM]

ok ching ching chong chong

[balls @ Jul 17th 2007 3:20PM]

Awesome! So you can pay for internet access that will be monitored and censored by government.

Freedom FTW!

[ET @ Jul 17th 2007 5:31PM]

Dude, Hong Kong is not mainland china.

[balls @ Jul 17th 2007 5:38PM]

http://opennet.net/research/profiles/china

[ashmist @ Jul 17th 2007 10:20PM]

I think what ET meant to say is Hong Kong doesn't have the same restrictions. No internet censorship, British modeled judicial system etc... ... at least until 2047

[MB @ Jul 17th 2007 4:10PM]

Certainly the Tokyo subway system will respond by installing WiFi in all trains.

http://fotservis.typepad.com/photos/city_of_the_cool_tokyo/crowd.jpg

[Whtrbt7 @ Jul 17th 2007 4:46PM]

WiFi on the Octopus will only be a gimmick since the trains get so crowded. Users are also discouraged to whip out their laptop for the same reason. We do get cell signal in the subway already so getting WiFi will only bolster the existing HSDPA usage. Overall, it's great but I think that the data rates for HSDPA are comparable.

[Richard Lai @ Jul 18th 2007 3:13AM]

What do you mean by wifi on the Octopus card?

[Tis---strange @ Jul 17th 2007 4:49PM]

Well, WiFi´s great, but THEY haven´t got no IPhone yet...

[Mark @ Jul 17th 2007 4:53PM]

So the wifi will be slower than your existing HSDPA, since you're sharing one or two connections with everyone else, right?

[ET @ Jul 17th 2007 5:32PM]

users of HSDPA shares one base station's bandwidth if they are on the same network

[Antti @ Jul 17th 2007 5:52PM]

Trams and some buses in Helsinki, Finland have free wlan.

[Zach @ Jul 17th 2007 6:12PM]

whats the point? I know on the NYC subways, though they aren't usually TOO crowded (except during 5:00 rush), no one has a laptop out. The ride length is too short to actually even do anything. Though, cell phone service is also shitty, so maybe the whole checking mail thing makes sense a little bit.

[JR @ Jul 18th 2007 2:55PM]

Would be better suited for Metro-North, after they fix the doors, flooding, A/C, wires, bridges, and toilets.

[KC @ Jul 17th 2007 7:57PM]

Wow. That would mean that you could use a wifi handheld device for GPS, skype, etc on the train. Why does everyone assume that it's only good for laptop use?

[Richard Lai @ Jul 18th 2007 3:09AM]

What do you mean by wifi on the Octopus card?

[Richard Lai @ Jul 18th 2007 3:12AM]

Sorry, wrong reply.

[Oscar @ Jul 18th 2007 3:07AM]

Actually, it's not only can use in MTR. You can use this wi-fi service all over HK in any hotspot next to you. This service is actually provided by PCCW. http://www.pccwwifi.com/eng/index.htm

[Richard Lai @ Jul 18th 2007 3:18AM]

Sweet, it's a PCCW service. At the moment I have a 2-month free trial with Netvigator's Wi-Fi service.

[Marc @ Jul 18th 2007 6:09AM]

anyone knows if this will also be in KCR?

[Roy @ Jul 18th 2007 1:29PM]

um... as some others have posted above, this service is not provided by MTR... it is provided by PCCW (a huge communication corp in HK). and it is not only in the MTR stations and trains, it includes other hotspot areas too... i think you guys should edit ur posts.... and currently, it still does not exist in MTR stations and trains.... its only scheduled for July 07, and does not mean it will be availble July 07.

[Roy @ Jul 18th 2007 1:30PM]

oh, forgot to say that its only avaliable in MTR's Airport Express lines, and not the other lines.

[lex @ Jul 19th 2007 12:05AM]

this is pretty lame, considering 3G phones have been available throughout HK for almost 2 yrs now

it's so friggin crowded, and most people only travel for an avg of 20min on the trains that I doubt anyone would want to whip out a laptop