That fish will soon be caught that nibbles at every bait
|
|
|
Free Wi-Fi coming to trains, planes and automobiles
AFTER A FAIR amount of smoke and mirrors about security, mickey-taking tariffs and general faffing about, it seems that free Wi-Fi is finally coming to a transportation system near you. Well, not you perhaps, but definitely in the region of you, him, or her over there.
First up, codgerish trainspotters like Dr Spinola will be delighted to hear
that the east coast UK train service will have free Wi-Fi for all from this
month as part of National Express’s takeover of the franchise from GNER. GNER
already has power points
dotted through trains but charged cattle class peasants for the pleasure of
Wi-Fi while First Class aristos got it gratis.
Second, planes. Low-cost US carrier Jetblue will offer freebie access to email and IM only (why?) from next week.
Third, automobiles. Well, actually, we only added that one to make the headline stand up but you already know that you can get in-car Wi-Fi from services such as Autonet Mobile and rentals such as Avis. µ
Share this:
Share
Down here in Reading virtually nothing is free. 

If I go to town with my N95 I can find more wireless networks than the average mind can comprehend, but only about 5 are unencrypted. 

Out of that 5, 4 of them demand you register with an account and pay up before you can use them, and the last one is owned by an idiot who doesn't understand the concept of encryption. 

Mind you not that I complain about that. It works a treat :)
this opportunity (use internet through wifi in bus) are providing czech bus operators on route Praha-Brno - companies Asiana and Student Agency is just planning to start this service

and if I remember correctly this service is possible in some higher class trains in czechia (and maybe slovakia) too
Here in Southampton we have already had free Wi-Fi hotspots for some time on a few of the uni-link buses. Haven't used it personally though.
Lacking any other options, I recently got high speed Internet for my house via an EV-DO mobile network. For a lark I set up my laptop and EV-DO modem in the backseat of my car and went for a drive across town. 

I was streaming Internet radio while driving. If they can solve the lengthy boot-up and loading time, then mobile Internet Radio is going to have a pretty large impact on AM/FM broadcast radio (similar to the effect of MP3s on the record industry).
It now cheaper to fly around the world on low cost airlines than pay rent and services in London offices!
becaise it is *very hard* to get a lot of bandwidth in an aircraft, and 200 passengers youtubing away would kill their one megabit line in no time...