WiFi Rail and Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) announced finalization of a 20-year agreement to provide high-speed mobile Wi-Fi access throughout the BART transit system and on all BART commuter trains.
A year of testing showed more than 15,000 consumers registered and used the system more than 85,000 times, including live streaming video from the trains. Tests on trains moving at over 81 mph have consistently demonstrated upload and download speeds in excess of 15 Mbps.
Four downtown San Francisco stations and some segments of the tunnels are already fully functional and have been providing premium service free to subscribers for the past year. However, the WiFi Rail business model is based on network subscriptions - daily, monthly and annually - as well as technology license arrangements.
Completion of network construction is planned for the end of 2010.
The WiFi Rail network design can be expanded to provide a parallel network capable of a variety of network functions to support public safety and security needs, including those of homeland security.