School Bus With Internet Access?

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2804915.stm' target='_blank'>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2804915.stm</a><br /><br /></div>Why didn't I have this when I was in high school? :cry:<br /><br />"A teacher on the Isle of Man has come up with a novel use for the next generation of mobile phone technology. Information technology teacher Alex Townsend is using his 3G handset to provide a wireless broadband internet connection for schoolchildren. The Manx Telecomputer Bus has 21 Apple Macs on board, taking computing training to every school on the island."<br /><br />Now, if they just used a 3G-to-802.11b gateway... you'd be able to surf the net on your PPC on the bus. Admittedly, this isn't a traditional "school bus" per se, but still, it brings up all sorts of interesting ideas.

[dacs29]

The Isle of Man is pretty cool. They had the first full 3G/UMTS network in the world covering pretty much the entire island.

David

[Deslock]

I've been toying with an idea for a few months... I work for a University Transit System in the USA. We could fairly easily equip buses with a webserver (possibly PPC/CE-based) and 802.11b router. Every morning, a central server at our bus garage could download webpages like Avantgo does (NYTimes, CNN, Weather, our service bulletins webpages, our online bus schedules, etc...). Before the buses leave the garage, they could download the newest versions of the webpages via an array of 802.11b routers throughout our garage.

There could be a sign in the front of the bus that read "Have an 802.11b wireless device with you? Fire it up and point your web browser to http://blah.blah.blah."

This wouldn't be that complicated to setup and could cost, potentially, less than $100 per bus (though that adds up quickly with a large Transit fleet and I dunno if we could get the funding). There would be no Internet Access, but perhaps the system could be modified to accommodate that in the future.

I usually drive or bike to work but now and then I ride the bus. As a passenger, I'd use it.

[Janak Parekh]

This wouldn't be that complicated to setup and could cost, potentially, less than $100 per bus (though that adds up quickly with a large Transit fleet and I dunno if we could get the funding).
I think it's a pretty neat idea, but IMHO, the problem is not the initial equipment and setup cost, but rather the maintenance cost. I think it's a little too early to do it mass-market right now, because the number of handheld users might be small... but this could be very compelling maybe a couple years down the road when all handheld devices have easy WiFi access.

--janak

[bdegroodt]

I think it's a little too early to do it mass-market right now, because the number of handheld users might be small... but this could be very compelling maybe a couple years down the road when all handheld devices have easy WiFi access.

--janak

Janak- Roads bring cars...Not cars bring roads :D

BTW, how dare you lock my post! :P Sorry about the double post. You can take it down.