Hello dear FTer's,

any idea if we will see wlan on ICE trains in the future. I am not an expert but it can't be that difficult. I heard that DB is already running some test this wlan. I know that I can use a Mobile UMTS Connect Card but is not such a great thing and you always have to deal with dead spots...

So any insights? If DB would offer wlan I would use them more often than I do now. It would be a real enhancement.

Cheers
totti

Not an expert either, but here are my thoughts:

I think it would be quite an endeavour to make it work, because you would need to have a stable connection from the moving train to the ground based towers or whereever the train gets the signal from. I might be wrong, but I'd assume that you'd need to build a fairly expensive infrastructure to cover most of the main tracks - since, as you mentioned the dead spots will still exist if you just use the mobile phone infrastructure.

While I'd like to see it, I don't think it will happen anytime soon

David

I believe some Thalys trains have been testing Wlan between Paris and Brussels.

I might be wrong, but I'd assume that you'd need to build a fairly expensive infrastructure to cover most of the main tracks - since, as you mentioned the dead spots will still exist if you just use the mobile phone infrastructure.Wouldn't a satellite-delivered connection alleviate these issues? Antennas inside tunnels or under bridges could be used to prevent the dropping of the connection (the negative side of this might be the cost, I suppose).

Not an expert either, but here are my thoughts:

I think it would be quite an endeavour to make it work, because you would need to have a stable connection from the moving train to the ground based towers or whereever the train gets the signal from. I might be wrong, but I'd assume that you'd need to build a fairly expensive infrastructure to cover most of the main tracks - since, as you mentioned the dead spots will still exist if you just use the mobile phone infrastructure.

While I'd like to see it, I don't think it will happen anytime soon

David
At least they got it work in the air (Flynet) and I guess it is much easier to get it work on the ground. As Non-NonRev mentioned even tunnels and bridges can't be such a problem. But you may be right that the costs are just too high... :( At least they could offer it on the "Sprinter" trains and I still hope they will one day.

Wireless lan trials on Thalys (http://mobilitytoday.com/news/004750/iPAQ_Siemens_Wi-Fi%20broadband%20internet_high-speed%20train)

At least they got it work in the air (Flynet) and I guess it is much easier to get it work on the ground. As Non-NonRev mentioned even tunnels and bridges can't be such a problem. But you may be right that the costs are just too high... :( At least they could offer it on the "Sprinter" trains and I still hope they will one day.

Actually, it should be much easier to have signal coverage in the air (using a satellite based system), since you don't have any trees, buildings, hills etc between you and the satellite.
But after reading the Thalys article, I'm curious to learn more :)

David