MuniWireless

RailAir buses running between Heathrow Airport and Reading (a city in the UK technology corridor) are now offering free Wi-Fi service to passengers. The journey takes approximately 50 minutes. Buses are equipped with Icomera’s Moovbox M Series mobile broadband gateway which uses 3G as backhaul and allows the bus operator to track vehicles in real-time (via GPS-based vehicle location). Icomera claims that passengers enjoy download speeds of 2 Mbps.  RailAir is a non-stop service operated by First Berkshire with departures from Reading for Heathrow terminals up to every twenty minutes.

Usage of Wi-Fi hotspots on public transport has seen significant growth during the past year. Icomera reports over 3.7 million sessions by more than one million passengers in the twelve months ending October 31, 2008 on its in-vehicle Moovbox systems worldwide, a 272% increase over the period.

“Given the passenger demographic, airport bus and coach routes are a natural choice for Wi-Fi services,” said Dave Palmer, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales at Icomera. “Business passengers can get online at no cost and make the best use of their time. More importantly free Wi-Fi is the preferred way to connect while travelling abroad as it avoids high international 3G data roaming charges.”

Icomera says that Green Line buses between Royal Windsor and Victoria Coach Station in Central London will soon have free Wi-Fi.

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Icomera reports 272 percent increase in Wi-Fi use on public transport