This article looks at my recent experience using VIA Rail Canada passenger internet service while traveling from Toronto to Montreal. These types of services have become more common in the last few years. VIA was one of the first certified companies; The original mobile internet service was launched in 2006, then updated in 2010 and 2011.
Via Real Canada was one of the first railway companies in the world to provide mobile internet services to its passengers in 2006. The service operates 42 trains along the Central Canada Corridor about 700 miles between Windsor Ontario and the city of Quebec. Initially, the service used a pair of satellite and 2G mobile connections. In 2010, the service was renewed to use 3G mobile connectivity; Leave the satellite connection altogether. After the accounts I found on the internet, blogs and Twitter, this service was good.
The truck was completely modernized in 2011 and 2012. The new service is installed in a fleet of 42 trains and has 6 HSPA + combined mobile connections, an on-board server and controller, bus passenger arrival points (B, G) and across the network. Wireless N connecting all buses.
VIA promotes the service as part of the Human Way campaign. Productive use of travel time for business or entertainment, such as social networking, booking activities at the destination or what to do when you arrive at the destination, or simply reading newspapers online or browsing the web using this service.
I have had the opportunity to travel and have fun at VIA Rail several times, and I have always been amazed at the overall performance of the mobile internet; What is currently offered for free. After connecting the device to the WiFi metropcs apn settings access point, you are offered to select the service languages; In English or French. Then you should accept some terms and conditions; You will be redirected to the main page of VIA Rail services. You can then navigate online.
I was able to work with files with a VPN connection to my office servers; Edit and update text documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Webmail systems like Gmail are easy to access. Web browsing is also very fast. Other things I’ve done are stream music services like Acuradio and Tunein without hiccups. I've seen and updated my web photo albums on Picasa without any problems. I also do online shopping and internet banking. I've also seen travelers using video calls via Skype. But streaming video is streamed and missed in this environment, and sites like YouTube are blocked for performance reasons to conserve bandwidth and ensure a good user experience. This can be understood in a common mobile environment where the available bandwidth from the mobile network is a limiting factor. But you can still access news sites, such as leading newspapers, such as news videos, such as CNN or CBC. But as I mentioned, video can be successful and open.
So, given the user experience, this service is perfect for a free service. How long will it be free? We may also think that providing this service can be expensive. It is estimated that more than 20,000 passengers use the service and average traffic per week is 1 terabyte. Twitter and Facebook comments are generally positive, supporting my personal experience.
As with any mobile network, performance may decline in some locations. An area along Lake Ontario where performance is very good or good. But at a speed of 100 miles per hour, these areas increase rapidly, and performance improves very quickly. Via reflects these areas in its credit service information and on a map published on its website and in a traveler's magazine. Technical support is also available by phone and text message.
Most of the trains you travel on are 3 or 4 car long, and it is estimated that about half of the passengers use this service. It would be anywhere from 80 to 100 users connected in a full train. I took many measurements with equipment like Speedtest. It gives an idea of the user experience. The average download speed is around 2.75 Mbps with a maximum speed of 5 Mbps and above. The average download speed is 1 Mbps and the maximum is 3 Mbps. I performed this measurement with both Windows laptops and Samsung Android tablets. These speeds should be sufficient for maintenance. According to VIA, it's best to use it for "web browsing and email"; But from my experience, you can do more.
Overall, VIA Rail wireless internet service is reliable and fast. VIA also recently introduced a multimedia portal server on some trains to complement the wireless Internet service.
