Metro Vancouver Transit Discussion - Page 969

s211 · #**19361** Posted **Dec 12, 2018, 11:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sheba

TransLink to bring free Wi-Fi to entire transit system, beginning in 2020

There has to be a better use of limited tax dollars than pander to the free-everything crowd.

scryer · #**19362** Posted **Dec 12, 2018, 11:40 PM**

Quite honestly, Commercial/Broadway already does a decent job at connecting the two lines. I get it though, there are better interchange stations out there but we also don't have the worst either.

And with the upgraded station being opened shortly, it will improve the pedestrian traffic just that much more. I would almost say it would be worth it to considering mirroring the exact same thing on the other side for when the M line extends to UBC.

ilikeredheads · #**19363** Posted **Dec 12, 2018, 11:41 PM**

Free wifi is nice but they should really address the lack of reception in the Canada Line tunnels. It's ridiculous how many blind spots there are.

I did ask Translink about this and apparently Telus was the one who installed the antennas so if you are not with Telus (or Koodo), you are basically screwed.

LeftCoaster · #**19364** Posted **Dec 12, 2018, 11:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by s211

There has to be a better use of limited tax dollars than pander to the free-everything crowd.

Free wifi is one of the most cost effective data solutions any organization can get.

It pays for itself in like a day.

cganuelas1995 · #**19365** Posted **Dec 13, 2018, 3:25 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by nname

Hmm... for a new rapid transit link...

2 years to bring it up and discussed
6 years to be included in mayor's plan
10 years to get funding
3 years to design and come up with a business plan
2 years for procurement
4 years for construction and testing

So that's like... 27 years?

Not like it makes much sense anyways

Ah, so we will probably have the Millennium line phase 20 western extension to Istanbul days away from ribbon cutting by then?

jollyburger · #**19366** Posted **Dec 13, 2018, 3:32 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by s211

There has to be a better use of limited tax dollars than pander to the free-everything crowd.

Why don't you try reading the article before you try to associate this with spending your precious tax dollars.

fredinno · #**19367** Posted **Dec 13, 2018, 3:42 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Why don't you try reading the article before you try to associate this with spending your precious tax dollars.

I wonder, why is Shaw giving out free internet?

Colin4567 · #**19368** Posted **Dec 13, 2018, 4:44 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by fredinno

I wonder, why is Shaw giving out free internet?

Can probably look at what the people are browsing while on transit, look for trends/patterns, and then sell it so companies can see what should/shouldn't be advertised on transit. I'm pretty sure it's all about selling data to help improve companies' ad revenues.

Meraki · #**19369** Posted **Dec 13, 2018, 6:50 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colin4567

Can probably look at what the people are browsing while on transit, look for trends/patterns, and then sell it so companies can see what should/shouldn't be advertised on transit. I'm pretty sure it's all about selling data to help improve companies' ad revenues.

Pretty much.

Mac Write · #**19370** Posted **Dec 13, 2018, 4:11 PM**

I turn off WiFi as soon as I leave my house and use data. Public WiFi is a hackers dream.

WarrenC12 · #**19371** Posted **Dec 13, 2018, 4:18 PM**

Shaw is really eating Telus' lunch in their backyard. They have a massive public network already, plus Vancouver's public Wifi, now Translink. Telus has what? BC Place? Taxi cabs?

Too bad Shaw's service sucks. I'm a Freedom Mobile customer, and get free access to their hotspots, but half the time it's more trouble than it's worth.

Kisai · #**19372** Posted **Dec 13, 2018, 9:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Shaw is really eating Telus' lunch in their backyard. They have a massive public network already, plus Vancouver's public Wifi, now Translink. Telus has what? BC Place? Taxi cabs?

Too bad Shaw's service sucks. I'm a Freedom Mobile customer, and get free access to their hotspots, but half the time it's more trouble than it's worth.

The ShawOpen/ShawPasspoint isn't really that hard to use. Just login to your shaw account , associate the mac address of the wifi (it will do this automatically if you're on that device and set it up at the Shaw access point) and on iPhones it downloads a configuration file so that you can seamlessly use it. Works fine.

Telus is actually the odd man out here, Telus has better service in general, and more capability to out-muscle Shaw, but their access points are seemingly nowhere.

On the Skytrain, you can use Telus's LTE except when you get to Columbia, and then it will drop to 3G and depending on which direction you are going, stay stuck in 3G for a few stations. This is something Telus should really fix.

Shaw's free WiFi is likely going to be piggybacked off their Freedom Mobile service. There's no way to shower the entire Greater Vancouver area with WiFi from street level. It will also suck quite a bit on the Canada Line and 620 (hell when you're at BC Ferries terminals or on the ferry itself, the free Wifi is 100% unusable, even during offpeak, my guess is that the terminals use a wired internet connection but the ferries use a single 3G connection, just like Amtrak.) Using the cell phone's own data will be more usable.

And this is why 5G will be a bunch of hot garbage when it rolls out. Sure, you may get gigabit speeds, but it will be divided by 10,000 people from various distances away, so you're not going to be doing anything productive on it, it will be all cat videos and memes. Meanwhile 30km outside of the Fraser Valley and most of BC is still on 3G.

WarrenC12 · #**19373** Posted **Dec 13, 2018, 9:26 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kisai

The ShawOpen/ShawPasspoint isn't really that hard to use. Just login to your shaw account , associate the mac address of the wifi (it will do this automatically if you're on that device and set it up at the Shaw access point) and on iPhones it downloads a configuration file so that you can seamlessly use it. Works fine.

Telus is actually the odd man out here, Telus has better service in general, and more capability to out-muscle Shaw, but their access points are seemingly nowhere.

I should have been more specific. The app they send out to Freedom Mobile customers like me is awesome. I connect to ShawPasspoint all over the place in the background, it's seemless, and I've always got good signal... to the WAP.

I can't count the number of times my phone is stalled and my bandwidth meter is at 0. That's because something is hooped between the WAP and the internet. I often shut off Wifi and revert to 4G and carryon.

cganuelas1995 · #**19374** Posted **Dec 13, 2018, 10:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mac Write

I turn off WiFi as soon as I leave my house and use data. Public WiFi is a hackers dream.

You mean a hackers wet dream.

CanSpice · #**19375** Posted **Dec 14, 2018, 12:30 AM**

The wifi will be paid for entirely by Shaw. TransLink (and taxpayers) will pay nothing. From the press release:

Quote:

The agreement between TransLink and Shaw will see these enhancements come at no cost to TransLink or its customers. Under the agreement, Shaw will install and operate the Wi-Fi system. Since 2016, there has been free Wi-Fi at SeaBus terminals and on SeaBus ferries through a similar agreement with Shaw.

But hey, go on and rail against the cost to taxpayers.

jollyburger · #**19376** Posted **Dec 14, 2018, 1:13 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kisai

Shaw's free WiFi is likely going to be piggybacked off their Freedom Mobile service. There's no way to shower the entire Greater Vancouver area with WiFi from street level. It will also suck quite a bit on the Canada Line and 620 (hell when you're at BC Ferries terminals or on the ferry itself, the free Wifi is 100% unusable, even during offpeak, my guess is that the terminals use a wired internet connection but the ferries use a single 3G connection, just like Amtrak.) Using the cell phone's own data will be more usable.

And this is why 5G will be a bunch of hot garbage when it rolls out. Sure, you may get gigabit speeds, but it will be divided by 10,000 people from various distances away, so you're not going to be doing anything productive on it, it will be all cat videos and memes. Meanwhile 30km outside of the Fraser Valley and most of BC is still on 3G.

BC Ferries has their own ship to shore radio network setup:

https://www.bcferries.com/about/wireless/

And last year they seemed to hint at a premium option but with paid access maybe with satellite Internet.

Kisai · #**19377** Posted **Dec 14, 2018, 4:01 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jollyburger

BC Ferries has their own ship to shore radio network setup:

https://www.bcferries.com/about/wireless/

And last year they seemed to hint at a premium option but with paid access maybe with satellite Internet.

It doesn't change the fact that it's completely useless. When WiFi was first available, yes, it occasionally drops out, but you could at least check an email or read a news article.

Over the last several months (I was on the ferry twice a week for a few months) WiFi just keeps resetting every minute or so, which suggests the problem is the actual access points, as the gateway terms of service page comes back up again. If a Ferry can have 2100 people on it, and somehow everyone uses it at the same time, they would need about 16Mbits of bandwidth just to guarantee everyone 64kbits. Per ship. Multiply that by the four ferries that would likely be operating at the same time and the two terminals at each end and you're looking at 64Mbits needing to be available, and the system needing a class B subnet so all users can use it and not be booted off every minute.

Anyway to bring this back to the WiFi on transit. You're looking at 120 users per bus, and 428 with the Mark III Skytrain. If they're actually going to put access points on the buses and trains, that's not entirely unreasonable, the question is going to be how the access points and cellular modems operate. The stations themselves can simply have "ShawOpen" access points on the platform and that requires nothing complicated that isn't already at the station. Each vehicle would cost Shaw about $1000 (802.11n + LTE-Advanced Class 9), at most. That's about 450Mbps potential as long as transit goes into areas that Shaw actually has base stations in. I doubt Shaw is going to want to pay Telus and Rogers to roam on their networks.

What does Shaw get out of this? Realtime coverage maps. If they track ip addresses accessed, they can get some marketing info from this (hell they literately say this in their business internet ads.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siJNqS9-NbY

Though to be fair, it's more likely they can't track as much as you think they do, which is why VPN software on mobile phones are as popular as they are.

jollyburger · #**19378** Posted **Dec 14, 2018, 4:53 AM**

Why is Shaw going to install and maintain free wifi? Free advertising on every bus and Skytrain. And possibly better speeds or something for their customers.

VancouverOfTheFuture · #**19379** Posted **Dec 14, 2018, 6:17 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Why is Shaw going to install and maintain free wifi? Free advertising on every bus and Skytrain. And possibly better speeds or something for their customers.

browsing/search data/etc. to sell to companies.

anything free is just a way to get your data which is very valuable.

i never use public wifi.

SpongeG · #**19380** Posted **Dec 14, 2018, 6:17 AM**

flooding between columbia and sapperton yesterday in the tunnel

pics/info here: https://globalnews.ca/news/4752811/flooding-skytrain-service-columbia-sapperton/

landslide today at commercial covered one of the tracks

pics/info here: http://ctv.news/o40Jgnb?fbclid=IwAR11496p8LVHTQkntqmDWAafRkdb41A4E-QuyrMdUeTJ-C92rc3UH3YpDsQ