Choo-choo-choosing Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is a great way for mobile professionals to kill idle downtime. Its presence in airports and hotels means hours once wasted reading trashy novels and watching SpectraVision movies can instead be spent…uh, surfing trashy Web sites and downloading QuickTime videos. Now Wi-Fi is helping salvage the biggest time-waster of all: The daily commute.

Several commuter railways are conducting Wi-Fi trials: Via Rail is working with Bell Canada to test a system on express trains running between Montreal and Toronto. The Capitol Corridor Joint Power Authority is conducting a test on trains running between Sacramento and San Jose. And the Altamont Commuter Express, which serves 1400 riders each day between Stockton and San Jose, launched tests last month.

The common denominator is PointShot Wireless, whose RailPoint solution is used in all three trials. RailPoint's wireless LAN consists of an 802.11 access point, software that provides high-speed Internet access, a tunneling gateway that reassembles packets downloaded from the Internet, a satellite antenna on the roof that downloads the Internet signal and a cellular antenna, also on the roof, that uplinks the signal to a wireless carrier's network.

Because rail cars essentially are poor conductors of radio signals, it was crucial that the reception and transmitting equipment be on the train itself, said Shawn Griffin, president of PointShot. “You could run outdoor access points along the track, but that would be very expensive. You'd have to do it along the entire track for the user to have a good experience.”

The service has promise. U.K. analyst firm BWCS projects $420 million per year will be spent on railway Wi-Fi in the U.S. by 2008, and about 625 million riders worldwide will travel on Wi-Fi-enabled trains in the next five years. “Trains would be up there with airports — or even ahead of airports — in terms of potential,” said BWCS analyst Ross Parsons. “It's a captive audience.”

For its part, the Capitol Corridor Joint Power Authority is hoping the service will boost the appeal of train travel for commuters. “We're trying to make rail service more attractive,”said Jim Allison, senior planner for the CCJPA. “It's a lifestyle change.”

The trial is free, but Griffin said rates of $10 and $20 per month for unlimited use are under consideration. “We know it works,” he said. “Now we have to understand how people are going to use it.”

With any luck, Wi-Fi will be working on the railroad all its livelong day.