WiFi Rail finalizes 20 year deal to bring internet to BART trains

Nearly a year to the day after we heard that WiFi trials were beginning on some of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit trains, WiFi Rail has announced a deal that'll last a score and provide high-speed WiFi "throughout the BART transit system and on all BART commuter trains." Reportedly, the network has successfully been tested to handle loads and provide speeds in excess of 15Mbps on trains moving 81 miles-per-hour. As it stands, four downtown San Francisco stations and some segments of the tunnels are already fully functional, but it'll take until the end of 2010 before the entire network is complete. There's no mention of what the price table will end up looking like, though we are told that subscriptions will be available by day, month or year. Now, if only this would filter out to every other mass transit entity in America, we'd be just jolly.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 31st 2009 4:35PM]

This is cool, soon we will be able to watch police murder riders as a live stream rather than a youtube upload.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 31st 2009 4:16PM]

In Helsinki, Finland (HKL is the name of the transit commission there) they've already had public WLAN on many buses, subway and streetcars for a while, and it's FREE. It'll expand to cover all public transit in the next two years.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/karde/430534020/
http://transport.wspgroup.fi/

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 31st 2009 4:30PM]

In reply to my last comment about 3G:
I live in Austria (at the moment) and I get access to the HSDPA/UMTS/3G everywhere. Certainly it isn't as fast in the coutryside as it is in Vienna, but I still have access to 3G. You can also get a 20GB monthly download limit for around €20 and that translates to about $40 a month. Use it anywhere. Never worry about a hotspot.

The USA needs to get its collective but in gear when it comes to mobile computing because Europe is running circles around it.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 31st 2009 4:36PM]

If only us Swedes could enjoy the wifi-ness on the trains. We still have some trains in which you can't actually speak to one another because of the train being too loud.


http://www.headacheeveryday.com

[munir Posted Jan 31st 2009 5:21PM]

this would be more useful if the 4 major wireless carriers weren't already expanding their underground coverage to cover the entire bart system. once that's implemented, just browse on your phone, or tether if you must

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 31st 2009 8:20PM]

Dammit. Some company was supposed to provide WiFi to the entire New York City Subway System starting a couple of years back and that deal must have gone up in smoke. They said it was so simple to do. I should have known it would end up as vaporware. Heck, if any city needs it, it's NYC. It's filled with self-important people with smartphones glued to their ears. Dickhead movers and shakers constantly mumbling "Time is money."

http://subwayblogger.com/2007/09/20/subway-stations-getting-wired-for-cellphones-and-wifi/

I doubt if even one station in the whole damn system got wired. No money most likely. That's usually the cry of the M.T.A.

[sinai Posted Jan 31st 2009 8:21PM]

as far as i know, it doesn't work on trains, but at stations. you get pretty fast speeds though. if you need that torrent before you get home, it's an option.

but as soon as it's complete, they will start charging for it. which means no one will use it.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 1st 2009 7:00AM]

Bart Simpson?

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 1st 2009 5:19PM]

¡Ay caramba!

[BigEyeBri Posted Feb 3rd 2009 6:27PM]

Re-dick-u-lous. Charging for WiFi on a BART train, when you have the option to board CALTRAIN (SJ to SF) at the Milbrae station (both BART and CALTRAIN), and access the WiFi for free.

I used a cellular access card yesterday, on BART, between SF and Milbrae and only lost my connection 4 times (best record yet). If I jump on CALTRAIN, I get 0 losses using their WiMax connection and can go between SJ and SF.

So, either I would switch to CALTRAIN for my transpo, use a company supplied cellular card (and get dropped a few times) or I'd go without and just read a book. I'd never pay DSL prices for connecting to WiFi on a train.