We have already talked about the organization of the wireless data transmission system in the car and on board the aircraft. The principles of Wi-Fi differ according to the differences between the modes of transport. And if in cases with auto and aviation equipment, the provision of Internet access via Wi-Fi is relatively straightforward, then with the railway transport, things are different.
The installation of Wi-Fi equipment in the conditions of public ground transportation is also not very diverse. Here, for the transport company, it is only possible to choose an Internet connection provider. That is, if you install a modem with a router function on a transport unit, you need to decide where the signal will come from: either from the connection to the core network using 3G / LTE / WiMAX networks, or using a satellite channel.
With regard to urban transport (tram, bus, trolleybus, route taxis, etc.), the principles of organizing a Wi-Fi connection are similar to the principles of working in a car, namely, the Internet provider is a cellular operator.
In general, it is possible to technically equip a Wi-Fi connection with any kind of transport. However, a telecom operator providing Internet access is easier to work with urban passenger transport, since 3G / 4G / LTE infrastructure is better developed in the city, which helps reduce the cost of providing such a service. But it should be understood that charging the provider for such access to the Network is inexpedient, because then the service will hardly be in demand, therefore, telecom operators are increasingly providing it free of charge.
With long-haul transport, things are different. Here, the transport company will have to either invest in the development of the ground infrastructure of a 3G / 4G signal, or satellite equipment, which must necessarily be specially protected and certified, which significantly increases its cost. In addition, the rental of satellite Internet channel for the company will cost you a pretty penny. Of course, in this case, the carrier company has a reason to charge the passengers, especially since the coverage of 3G / 4G networks along the trains is very weak and there are no alternative options for access to the Network from passengers.
But even when using a satellite Internet connection by the carrier, the data transfer rate is very limited and amounts to about 2-4 Mbit / s, so not all the charm of the World Wide Web will be available to passengers, but only social networking and e-mail. Although studies have shown that this is exactly what users need, reports J'son & Partners Consulting. Therefore, it is unlikely that it will be possible to download any multimedia content, and for Internet surfing this will be quite enough.
According to analysts of the company Informa Telecom & Media, in the coming year, hot spots on transport will have about 15.8% of unloaded traffic of 3G networks - the same as hot spots in cafes and restaurants. What will entail not only more significant congestion of the cellular network, but also will give prospects for further increasing mobile traffic unloading due to Wi-Fi networks, reaching 46% by 2017, which will undoubtedly have a positive effect on the growth of the Wi-Fi market, in particular on all modes of transport.
Thus, analyzing the development process of Wi-Fi in the world as a whole, the experts came to the conclusion that the Internet is most actively promoted and distributed on the railways, although it requires the most large-scale investments.
As for the cost of the service, Wi-FI-access within Russia, organized by MegaFon, is the cheapest in Europe. For the sake of fairness, it is worth noting that Wi-Fi from MegaFon on railway transport, similar to the situation with providers on board airliners, is a pleasure for a certain circle of passengers - wealthy citizens, since only passengers of the Allegro and Sapsan ”, where the cost of such a service is 3.19 dollars per hour. The amount is debited from the user's account, or by purchasing a special payment card.
For business class passengers, these trains have Wi-Fi Internet access free of charge (its cost is included in the ticket price), but they still have to go through authorization by entering their phone number (any cellular operator) to get the appropriate access password. Passengers of this class are allocated a special quota for each telephone number, which is necessary to avoid abuses when using Wi-Fi access.
In general, MegaFon invested 800 million rubles in this project, cnews.ru reports, and provided full cellular coverage along railroad tracks from Nizhny Novgorod to Moscow and from Moscow to St. Petersburg, as well as to Buslovskaya station (border with Finland) .
As part of the project, 120 new base stations were installed, the total number of which along the above-mentioned sections now amounts to 582 stations. Of these, about 40 are installed on the masts of the Russian Towers company, an independent infrastructure operator who, by agreement with Russian Railways, has exclusive rights to build masts in the ROW in the immediate vicinity of railways.
Due to the weak signal capacity of the train housings, three repeaters (repeaters) were installed in each car: one for 3G networks and two for GSM networks (in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands). In addition to providing Wi-Fi access to the network, this will improve the quality and level of the cellular signal for all MegaFon subscribers on these trains.
Each car has a Wi-Fi router. For the management of the service is responsible server installed in the 6th car. The server, in turn, is monitored by a staff engineer. In the event of breakdowns, the train will be met by a team of MegaFon specialists directly at the station and will be engaged in troubleshooting.
“The average speed of Internet access using Wi-Fi technology in the above-mentioned trains is 2 Mbit / s. At the same time, for MegaFon subscribers, the average speed of work with the Internet with direct access to the 3G network is 3.5 Mbit / s. ”, - informs Anton Pirogov, head of the innovative development of the MegaFon network infrastructure.
Thus, a user who connects to Wi-Fi, is experiencing a lack of data transfer speed when working on the network and is forced to switch to a 3G connection. Such is the marketing scheme of MegaFon.
In general, the development of Wi-Fi transport in Russia is carried out by all operators participating in the "Big Three", who informally divided the spheres of influence.
MegaFon has concentrated on railways - the easiest thing here is to “discourage” financial investments.
VimpelCom preferred urban public transport and the provision of free Wi-Fi for self-promotion and to attract more users.
MTS develops Wi-Fi on both railway and urban transport, realizing both commercial and advertising business models.
In the subways of both capitals of the country, Wi-Fi performance tests have been going on for quite a long time. In September 2013, tests in the metro of St. Petersburg were successful - no negative impact of Wi-Fi on the metro equipment was recorded. This means that in the very near future, and more precisely in 2014, Wi-Fi will surely work in the underground. However, this will be realized only in the lobbies and at the metro stations, and not in the stretches themselves, but nevertheless this is already a promising prospect.
The content of the cycle "Wi-Fi":
Wi-Fi car
Wi-Fi deep water
Wi-Fi Aviation
Wi-Fi rail
The article is based on materials .
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