31 Jul 08 Trainblogging : live from a ViaRail train between Ottawa & Montreal – roaming Satellite Internet connectivity on a train – sorta…

Trainblogging.

Well, this is my second experiment with using wireless Internet access aboard the ViaRail train from Ottawa to Montreal. The last time I tried it was on the train from Montreal to Ottawa and I didn’t post my review because I felt it would be perhaps a bit harsh and unfair based on one single trip. That being said, the first time around, the bandwidth was just fine. The problem was the 500-700ms latency … when each hit to a site/server takes ½ to ¾ of a second just to initiate the connection, it makes things pretty unusable…

This time around, in the opposite direction leaving the Ottawa train station it was much better – I was very impressed.

Until we got about 5 minutes past Casselman. That’s why we must have lost the connection from the train’s access point (802.11g BTW) to the satellite uplink.

I had a Citrix remote telework session going (yeah, I was going through some email catch-up while rollin’) … and now it’s lost. I can’t even reconnect to my wireless session through the provider which is nnu.com … not impressive.

More technical details to follow in a subsequent article.

P.S. It is $8.95 for a 24 period of Internet access. A stunning deal for “high speed” Internet access on a train moving at 100-140km/h.

If and when it works… and you don’t lose your uplink.

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Tags: trainblogging, ViaRail Wi-Fi, Web 2.0, Wireless