Expensive roads: Wi-Fi for travelers
At the end of January, Russian Railways promised to provide all long-distance trains with Internet.
On Habré, they were skeptical about the idea - it would be rash to put a movie for download at night without the ability to charge the battery. But check mail, read the news, find out the weather at your destination and scroll through the tapes of friends - it is quite possible. And with reasonable price-quality ratios, the Russian Railways decision brings business tourism in Russia to a new level.
First of all, we will look back at the experience of Europe, where wifiing came a little earlier.
According to GNER (now East Coast), one fifth of its passengers exchanged their tickets for train tickets precisely because Wi-Fi appeared in the latter. When the East Coast route management passed in 2008, the paid access was canceled and the passenger traffic increased from 30 to 100 thousand people per month. A study of BWCS, a company specializing in business optimization processes, determined that the ability to access the Internet during a trip becomes a decisive factor in changing the plane to the train for 72% of passengers.
Today, the average cost of a session at the time of travel in Europe is 9-13 euros.
In general, the findings of the British online ticket service redspottedhanky.com are quite obvious: trains are the fastest transport if you compare not only travel time, but also the time a passenger spends to get to the train station and go through all the check-in procedures . At the same time, the train ride will cost much cheaper than air travel, plus the opportunity to be online all the time - summing up all of the above, it becomes obvious that it is better to send your employees for official needs by train (unless, of course, the final goal is Vladivostok).
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In our country, the Internet in trains is expected no earlier than 2013 . Coverage will be provided through satellite and 3G signals. In November, Russian Railways arranged a test drive for wireless networks. In trial mode, the Internet was hooked up on trains from Moscow to Adler, Murmansk, Klimov and Yekaterinburg. The railroad workers were satisfied with the results (up to 4 Mbit / s on 80% of the sites). Who will be engaged in the technical implementation of the idea is not clear now; among the potential contractors are all the participants of the Big Three: VimpelCom, MTS and Megafon, the latter, by the way, has already managed to grab a tasty morsel from the railway pie - this company will provide communication bullet trains “Sapsan” and “Allegro”.
The cost of the Internet is also not discussed. We tried to apply directly to Russian Railways, but since “Phase I of the construction of antenna mast structures to provide high-speed Internet access in 3G format will be implemented before March 31, 2012, we cannot yet talk about the cost of connection, ” said Marina , - even about the preliminary .
According to one of the discussed schemes, the Internet access service will be included in the cost of a train ticket. According to market participants, this will increase the fare for the ruble (which, of course, is very funny).
On Habré, they were skeptical about the idea - it would be rash to put a movie for download at night without the ability to charge the battery. But check mail, read the news, find out the weather at your destination and scroll through the tapes of friends - it is quite possible. And with reasonable price-quality ratios, the Russian Railways decision brings business tourism in Russia to a new level.
First of all, we will look back at the experience of Europe, where wifiing came a little earlier.
According to GNER (now East Coast), one fifth of its passengers exchanged their tickets for train tickets precisely because Wi-Fi appeared in the latter. When the East Coast route management passed in 2008, the paid access was canceled and the passenger traffic increased from 30 to 100 thousand people per month. A study of BWCS, a company specializing in business optimization processes, determined that the ability to access the Internet during a trip becomes a decisive factor in changing the plane to the train for 72% of passengers.
Today, the average cost of a session at the time of travel in Europe is 9-13 euros.
| Carrier | Itinerary | Price | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eurostar | London-Paris-Brussels | Available at 5 main stations and only for business class: free | The service will appear on trains in 2013-2014. |
| Thalys | London-Brussels-Amsterdam-Antwerp-Rotterdam-Cologne-Liege-Aachen | 60 min - 6.50 euro
All time trip - 13 euros | |
| East coast | London-Leeds-York-Newcastle-Edinburgh-Glasgow | Free first 15 min., Then:
60 min - 4.95 pounds (€ 5.9) 24 hours - 9.95 pounds (€ 11.9) | Despite the articles in the media, on the company's website about the abolition of fees for the Internet is not mentioned |
| VirginTrains | Great Britain | 60 min - 4 pounds (€ 4.78)
All time trip - 8 pounds (€ 9,57) | |
| Iarnród Éireann | Ireland | Free (on the train and at some stations) | But to charge the phone, ipod, PSP or Nintendo at the station will cost 1.5 euros for 30 minutes.
In the train sockets can be used for free |
| Ice | Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Holland | 60 min - 8 euros | The Internet will only be on the route in Germany |
| Sj trains | Sweden | Free first class
For other passengers: 30 min - 39 SEK (€ 4.38) All time trip - 99 SEK (€ 11,13) | On weekends and holidays the cost is less - 14 and 49 SEK respectively |
| SBB | Switzerland | 30 min - 5 CHF (€ 4,15)
24 hours - 25 CHF (€ 20.72) | Internet is available in the business areas of the first car in 75 first-class trains. Swisscom tariffs |
| NS | Niderdandy | Is free | Free until 2013. Internet-equipped trains are marked with an identification mark. |
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In our country, the Internet in trains is expected no earlier than 2013 . Coverage will be provided through satellite and 3G signals. In November, Russian Railways arranged a test drive for wireless networks. In trial mode, the Internet was hooked up on trains from Moscow to Adler, Murmansk, Klimov and Yekaterinburg. The railroad workers were satisfied with the results (up to 4 Mbit / s on 80% of the sites). Who will be engaged in the technical implementation of the idea is not clear now; among the potential contractors are all the participants of the Big Three: VimpelCom, MTS and Megafon, the latter, by the way, has already managed to grab a tasty morsel from the railway pie - this company will provide communication bullet trains “Sapsan” and “Allegro”.
The cost of the Internet is also not discussed. We tried to apply directly to Russian Railways, but since “Phase I of the construction of antenna mast structures to provide high-speed Internet access in 3G format will be implemented before March 31, 2012, we cannot yet talk about the cost of connection, ” said Marina , - even about the preliminary .
According to one of the discussed schemes, the Internet access service will be included in the cost of a train ticket. According to market participants, this will increase the fare for the ruble (which, of course, is very funny).
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/138093/
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