Neoco’s blog

The future is coming closer as TGV passengers (with laptops or smartphones) on the (beta) wi-fi-equipped trains can get internet access during their journey. The service (currently free to both First and Second class passengers) is supposed to run at 2Mbps download and 512Kbps upload rates (hopefully that is a real measurement of the speed and not a Virgin Media measurement where 2Mbps actually means about 12Kbps).

The system, which is still in a test phase, only supports 50 users per train at present - approx. 15-20% of the total passengers per train (hmm, so it has the contention support of a Virgin Media line then…)

In a move heralding the ‘full circle’ of the internet, first-time users of the wi-fi service are asked to register via an online form before gaining unrestricted access to the internet and a multimedia portal (remember AOL) that is regularly updated with videos, news, city guides and other content. SNCF hopes the portal will help attract passengers to use the wi-fi service, which is unlikely to be free to use if it is rolled out commercially (ah, that’s the AOL thing again).

Apparently, the portal also has real-time geolocalisation data - showing the speed the train is travelling at, how far the traveller has progressed on their journey and a map of the train’s current location. Very nice, because the train is very likely to change it’s pre-agreed destination path. After all, it’s not like they are attached to rails or anything… Oh, they are. Well, I guess it’s still nice to know where you are on the map. They could try a similar thing in the UK but likelihood is that you would just see lots of red dots bunched together (the trains) and then a few brown dots up ahead (they would be the leaves on the line). The brown dots could be swapped with blue dots (rain) or white dots (snow) or even no dots at all because no-one has any idea what’s going on (Terminal 5 or BA). All of this presumes that you do not use SouthWest trains of course, in which case there simply would not be the room to get your smartphone out - let alone your laptop!

Seriously though, TGV should be commended for what they are doing here. It should have been Eurostar to showcase this - they have missed a trick. So we move closer to a brave new world of always being connected to a high speed internet… unless you are on Virgin Media where your line will display the reliability of a proverbial chocolate teapot. In a volcano. In the fires of Hell. It should also be highlighted that some people never learn from AOL’s mistakes… maybe TGV will make a walled garden next?

Finally, Terminal 5 and BA are crap.