With apologies to Norman Greenbaum (and does anyone else remember what song was on the flip-side of the 45 -- that was a small disc of vinyl that was played at 45 revolutions per minute for those too young to have owned or used one -- I'll give you the answer at the end) who was singing about something more spiritual than the ability to access the internet via radio signals known as "wi-fi."
For those who care, and who wouldn't, the term wi-fi apparently does not mean "wireless-fidelity" which was thought to be a play on the old "high fidelity" or "hi-fi" terms. Honestly, a founding member of the Wi-Fi Alliance says the term was just picked out of the blue from a list of ten possibilities for consumerizing "IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence." Phil Belanger, a co-founder of the Wi-Fi Alliance, says that the group was forced to create a literal explanation and came up with the Wireless Fidelity moniker for a brief time but abandoned it as soon as they could.
The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in San Francisco has been testing high-speed internet access on portions of its system. It allowed the 16,000 users that signed on to surf the Web, send email, write columns (ok, that's what I would do) and even videoconference while riding the rails or waiting in the stations. A company called Wi-Fi Rail, Inc. has contracted with BART to outfit the entire 104 miles of track and 43 stations by the end of 2011.
Like any good crack dealer, the system and the company offered the service for free as a way to get passengers hooked. At the completion of the next phase of the project which includes all of the subway stations in San Francisco and downtown Oakland the system will start charging for use.
Although I like my Wi-Fi free and unencumbered I appreciate that the free market system dictates the company needs to recoup its installation and operational expenses. According to the SFGate the pricing, once the system is fully complete, will be roughly $30 a month, $9 a day, $6 an hour or $300 for a year's subscription. There will be reduced rates until the system is complete. It sounds like the service will also be available free in the future for those willing to endure a series of ads before surfing.
Up in New York and New Jersey there's a little bit of competition going on between the two major cable systems there. Cablevision and Comcast are offering free wi-fi for their customers. Comcast is installing equipment in approximately 100 New Jersey Transit commuter rail stations and parking lots (not my favorite place to surf the web but...). Cablevision, which is headquartered in Long Island, has focused on Nassau and Suffolk (New York) counties although it offers service in Jersey as well. My only reason for pointing all of this out is that I hope that companies like Wi-Fi Rail or even our dear friends at Comcast (tongue firmly planted in cheek as I remember the destructive installation job they did for me) might give the folks at Metro a call with a business proposal. I can imagine that the second largest subway system in the country would have some appeal. It would sure make the commute go a lot faster and allow many of us to be more prepared when we step into the office... then again, just watching the world go by out the window isn't such a bad thing either.
The flip side of Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky" 45rpm record was: "Canned Ham."
Steve Eldridge is a long-time reporter,
observer and commentator on the Washington region's transportation
issues. You can contact him directly by writing to: Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com.
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