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« AirCell Tests Ground-to-Air Bandwidth | Main | FCC Gives Nextel Spectrum Shuffle Approval, But Does Nextel Approve? »

July 7, 2004

Commuters Find Internet Access on Rail, Bus, and Boat

08WIFI.chartThe Washington State Ferries are leading the rush to bring wireless Internet service to regular commuters: I contributed a couple of stories to the Thursday New York Times Circuits section about commuter-Fi: Internet access available by Wi-Fi relayed from cellular, satellite, and fixed or mobile land services. The Washington ferries will soon have the largest service by orders by magnitude that serves commuters: potentially, they could have 10,000 users a day by fall. The next biggest in the U.S. with regular service is Altamount Commuter Express (ACE), which I write about in the article as well, but which has just 45 to 60 users on an average day.

Commuter Internet access is potentially the single largest concentrated market for data users. While six million people commute to work via public transportation on an average day in the U.S., only a tiny fraction have access to any live Internet signal at any stage in their journey at any price. I don't have the percentage of those commuters who carry laptops or handhelds, but specific routes already have a significant percentage of passengers already using their laptops en route. (More staggeringly, by the way: 75 million trips are taken each average weekday on some form of public transportation on an average weekday, with 66.5 million of those trips by bus.)

This is a market that cellular data operators would love to tap into, but there are two limiting factors: cell data isn't ideally equipped for people riding at high speeds inside metal containers; and many of the commuters who might use a free service (in exchange for looking at advertising) or pay $20 to $30 per month for high-speed access wouldn't pony up $350 for a PC Card and $80 per month for the comparable cellular service if they don't need it outside their commute. That is, you have plenty of commuters who don't meet the road warrior profile, but have every bit as much need for data access during their daily shuttling.

The main article focuses on the various efforts that are well underway in the U.S., and mentions a few international projects, such as GNER's recent rail launch, the Linx train service in Sweden/Denmark, and Paris's bus project. The meat of the story looks at the Washington States Ferries use of a government grant to test the ways by which high-speed service could be offered continuously. The Port Townsend company that's building out the test system says they could offer well over 10 Mbps with their configuration if it's called for. (That firm actually specializes in military applications; the ferry system project is a rare case in which civilian work will pay back in military projects.) I was stunned to learn that the Washington ferries represent nearly half of all ferry trips in the U.S. each year.

08WIFI.coverxlThe ferry system's test uses fixed antennas to provide bandwidth. The other transportation operators I spoke to are either trying or planning to try cellular data or cellular and satellite. The illustration (thumbnailed above) that accompanies the article shows how PointShot, a rail Internet access builder, uses cell, satellite, and caching servers to provide continuous service.

In a sidebar, I cover the options in the Northeast, which are scant. You can get low-speed but good service on a shuttle from Manhattan to Boston or Long Island, but the MTA (which operates the rail lines around the city) has no plans, and Amtrak doesn't think the technology is ready, although it did allow AT&T Wireless to install Wi-Fi in six Northeast train stations.

I took a day trip to Port Townsend to test out the currently only unwired ferry in the fleet; you can see some of my photos here.