The Brunch Table

VIA Rail, Canada’s national passenger railroad, is going to be providing wireless internet access to business class passengers on its Toronto-Montreal runs as a pilot project. If Amtrak did that on the eastern corridor, I’d actually have a reason to pay the business class premium on my frequent rail trips. Of course, given that Anu ended up in a business class car without electrical outlets on a recent trip, it might be a stretch for Amtrak.

It’s worth mentioning that Amtrak did have a promotion last year that offered bolted-down iPaqs that could surf the web over a CDPD connection. However, there’s a big difference between doing some random web surfing while you’re having a snack in the cafe car, and being able to do net-related work on your own laptop at your seat. (That link also has a nifty story about kindhearted Mac users bridging Ricochet to WiFi on commuter trains in California.)

I’ve stumbled across an impressive number of open wireless nodes along the tracks, though the train is generally traveling too fast for them to be useful. For now, I’m stuck with a bit of browsing on the HipTop here and there. I wonder if I could get a usable laptop connection with one of those new bluetooth phones at 115 miles per hour…