Free Wi-Fi has appeared on Moscow buses since Monday, although so far only in test mode and only on four routes of the State Unitary Enterprise Mosgortrans. Passengers who have already gotten used to free wireless internet in the metro and at public transport stops, we were able to evaluate the innovation together with a RIAMO correspondent.
Do you have Wi-Fi?
On February 1, 2016, the first buses with free Internet access entered the capital’s streets. The wireless network is available for passengers of semi-express trains No. 902, which runs from the Kievsky railway station to the southwest of Moscow, No. 904, which runs from the Belorussky railway station to Mitin, as well as on the night bus No. H1, which runs to Sheremetyevo Airport, and route No. 1002, operating in New Moscow.
The very first bus of route 904 had an Internet access point, but it is not so easy to understand that the vehicle is actually equipped with free Wi-Fi. There are only three stickers with information about the possibility of connecting to free Internet in the cabin, which does not catch the passenger’s eye. Moreover, on each of them there is a technical support phone number that any passenger can call if there are problems with the connection.
“I was lucky that I saw a sticker with information about a free Wi-Fi connection, because I sat next to this sticker,” noted one of the passengers.
Simple but slow
The procedure for connecting to the Internet operates on the bus according to the same principle as in the Moscow metro. When connecting for the first time, you must leave your phone number, to which a confirmation code will be sent within 1-2 minutes; it must be entered in the empty field that will appear in the browser window after sending an SMS to the number.
Authorization turned out to be simple and fast, which cannot be said about the speed of the Internet. According to the Yandex Internetmeter service, the incoming connection speed did not exceed 0.95 megabits per second, and the outgoing connection speed did not exceed 0.88 megabits per second. At the same time, according to the SpeedTest Internet application, the incoming speed reached only 0.59 megabits per second, while the outgoing speed was 1.07 megabits per second.
Meanwhile, according to the press service of Mosgortrans, the connection speed reaches 10 megabits per second. In general, there are no problems when viewing social networks and news on the Internet, but to watch a video, you will have to be patient and wait until it loads.
Useful service
Of the ten passengers surveyed on route 904, only three knew about the availability of free Wi-Fi on the bus. At the same time, opinions regarding new feature vary.
“To be honest, I found out that free Wi-Fi appeared on my route, not exactly by accident, but only after I purposefully searched the Internet for information about the implementation of such a project on Moscow buses,” said Maxim, a Moscow student.
According to him, this service is very important for him. “Often on the way to college you need to prepare for a couple, in this case the Internet is indispensable. It’s great when, to achieve such goals, it is possible to connect to free Wi-Fi, because the network is not accessible everywhere, and it costs money. It would be quick if all Moscow transport were connected to such a service,” shares the young man.
As another passenger Marina noted, wireless access access to the Internet, in her opinion, will be in demand only on “long” routes.
“I think it's great that people have more and more opportunities to be sociable anywhere in the city. I actively use social networks, so the ability to watch updates in them in any form of transport makes life much easier," the girl shared.
Passengers "dissolved"
Photo: RIAMO, Tatyana Korobeinik
However, not all passengers share the joy of the penetration of the Internet into all spheres of life. According to one of the passengers, the number of people reading in public transport has decreased significantly in recent years.
"Just look how few people with books are sitting in the public transport. I do not see anything useful in the free Internet on the bus, it will further alienate young people from books. And nothing can replace simple human communication, and young people today, and middle-aged people, too, have simply disappeared into their mobile devices," the agency's interlocutor complained.
Mosgortrans plans to test free Wi-Fi on buses until April 2016. After passengers try out the innovation, a decision will be made on the further introduction of free Wi-Fi on rolling stock.
Anton Shamarin
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For businesses with user identification: in cafes, restaurants, business and shopping centers. Today we will talk about how we build mobile Wi-Fi networks - that is, networks that do not have a permanent location. For example, Wi-Fi in public transport, which moves around the city throughout the day, taxis, at offsite business events, is also a convenient option for catering services. Our product is made in such a way that it does not matter to us which network the client needs: mobile or fixed. In any case, you get a full Wi-Fi zone with identification. So, again we pass the floor to Andrey Plavich, MTS Business Market Marketing and Product Manager.
We can build a Wi-Fi network on any mobile transport: whether it be buses, trolleybuses, trains, steamships and taxis. Moreover, the service is implemented in compliance with all legal requirements. In general, the operation of the network can be described in two steps: the router communicates with the base station, and the signal is forwarded to our identification platform. A more detailed diagram is shown below in the figure:
To connect to the service, we use Enterprise-level (industrial) Wi-Fi routers. They can certainly be placed in dusty rooms, used in difficult temperature and vibration conditions. Such a router is powered by 220 Volts, 48 and 12, so we can easily integrate them into vehicles that have a standard 12-volt battery - we are now testing such a network in St. Petersburg. Note that MTS equipment is provided as part of the service; the client does not incur additional costs for purchasing the equipment and does not experience difficulties with setting it up - all issues are resolved by MTS engineers.
We always do for our clients Personal Area with all client statistics. If you install a router in public transport, you can see how many users there were in each trolleybus (bus or minibus), which users were on which trolleybuses and how often they moved around the city, and which routes were the most popular. Having such information, the client can plan various marketing activities - the network’s analytical capabilities are wide.
The uniqueness of the mobile network is that, in addition to transport, it can also be useful for companies that organize meetings, seminars, negotiations and video conferences outside their offices. Of course, as an alternative, you can always “give away” your Internet to guests, but, firstly, the list of invitees may be too large, and secondly, you will not comply with the requirement of the law on user identification. That is, you are not immune from the fact that visitors to your conference will not commit any illegal action using your network. With our Wi-Fi network with user identification, you can rest assured that all legal requirements will be met. Moreover, you will have on hand all the statistics on participants (who connected to the network) and their contacts, which will be a good help in future marketing activities.
Such a network can also be deployed at outdoor events. By placing several routers around the perimeter, we can organize a single network in several areas (at the customer’s request, we have the opportunity to separate zones - one for guests with identification, the other for employees with a single login and password). Although such a network may have restrictions on bandwidth base stations outside populated areas, because the signal is taken from regular base stations - 3G or LTE, but even in the case weak signal– at the client’s request – we can strengthen it.
Active development open points access to the Internet was associated with the World Cup in 2018. This is one of the popular reasons for such a sharp increase in the use of Wi-Fi in the bus and other public transport. Many users are still wondering: how to connect to Wi-Fi on the Mosgortrans bus.
Free open Wi-Fi hotspots are already actively operating on more than 1,500 public transport units in Moscow and over 800 units in St. Petersburg. This number is constantly growing, as it is associated with the popularity of this service. In other regions, there are much fewer active access points, but at the same time, growth is noted, nevertheless.
Together with the participation of the Kamchatka communications operator LLC InterKamService, five buses will be launched in Kamchatka, in which Wi-Fi Internet will be active.
In Kazan, student buses actively travel to Naberezhnye Chelny. At the same time, the ticket price does not differ from usual intercity flights.
In the capital, the number of Internet sessions on buses has tripled since the beginning of the year.
Bus routes with internet access
Back in February 2016 in Moscow, the first routes with equipment and Internet access were as follows:
- No. 902 “11th microdistrict Solntsevo - Kyiv railway station”;
- No. 904 “4th microdistrict Mitino - Belorussky railway station”;
- No. 1001 "Troitsk ( Shopping mall) - Kyiv (village)";
- No. N1 (night route) “Ozernaya Street - Sheremetyevo Airport”.
Today, WiFi connection is actively working in public transport on the St. Petersburg-Helsinki route.
Reference! Buses, minibuses and trams with built-in Wi-Fi are actively operating throughout Russia.
How to use Wi-Fi in ground transport
Residents of the capital actively use accessible internet in any convenient place. The most popular is the city bus. But not everyone knows how to connect Wi-Fi on a Mosgortrans bus. In fact, establishing an Internet connection is not difficult.
Authorization methods
Connection instructions
There are two ways to connect to the Internet: via SMS or the single portal “State Services”.
Connect via SMS:
Connect through “State Services”:
Reference. When reconnecting, you do not need to log in. The connection will be made automatically.
What to do if Wi-Fi in transport is advertised, but does not work
Despite the serviceability and variety of open access points, WiFi on buses may not work properly or not work at all.
There are many reasons: a malfunction of a passenger’s gadget, a breakdown of the router on the bus, and others.
In addition, given the number of connected passengers in transport, one can come to the conclusion that the router simply cannot cope with the flow of information, so access to the Internet is impossible.
The available manipulations to solve the problem are:
Conclusion
The article answered the question of how to connect to open wifi on a Moscow bus, providing detailed instructions on how to connect and performing the corresponding step-by-step actions.
It should also be added that for security purposes the buses are equipped with CCTV cameras. Now there are free hotspots in public transport - an excellent solution to improve the quality of life of citizens. Therefore, if the balance is negative, the subscriber can be online thanks to an open Wi-Fi network.
All articles on our site are audited by a technical consultant. If you have any questions, you can always ask them on his page.
Separately and especially important is to provide WiFi in corporate transport: your employees will be able to quickly respond to important emails while traveling, download necessary materials, prepare Commercial offer: time spent in transport will not be wasted. And thanks to communication channel reservation systems and powerful 3G/LTE solutions, Internet access will be uninterrupted even on long intercity and international trips.
What we can do
We offer a comprehensive range of services for organizing WiFi in private and public transport, understanding and taking into account the specifics of this task: the need to ensure continuous access to the Internet, high density clients, the need for centralized management (if we're talking about about the bus depot / depot / air fleet), etc. Intercity and international buses used to transport sports teams are equipped with additional high-bandwidth communication channels to provide the ability to view video traffic and make voice and video calls. For enterprises that own a large number of vehicles, a centralized WiFi management system is provided for each transport unit, and a GPS vehicle tracking system. The solutions we develop will take into account the design features of vehicles (metal walls, ceilings, shielding surfaces, lack of 220V power). When developing a solution, we take design into account vehicle, we select equipment that fits seamlessly into it, and, if necessary, carry out hidden installation. The solutions we offer are guaranteed to meet the key needs of the customer: reliability, high performance, stability.
As part of organizing WiFi for transport, we will carry out all work on a turnkey basis:
- Carrying out a radio examination (if necessary)
- Design of a solution, selection of equipment taking into account interior design (if necessary, custom-made device housings are manufactured and painted)
- Supply of equipment and software
- Installation and configuration of the system
- Configuring QoS (Quality Of Service; a set of rules that allows you to give the highest priority to network bandwidth for certain types of traffic or for certain users / groups of users)
- Setting up quotas and billing
- Setting up an identification service in accordance with Federal Law No. 97
- Detailed documentation
- Integration with related systems (if necessary)
- Cable work (if necessary)
At the request of the customer, further maintenance of the deployed system can be organized(monitoring the condition of equipment, regular firmware updates, adaptation to changing customer needs, network scaling, proactive replacement of equipment).
We offer solutions based on leading WiFi equipment manufacturers:
| Manufacturer | Positioning | Key Features |
|---|---|---|
 | Ruckus is a Hi-End vendor, one of the key trendsetters in the field of WiFi throughout the world. Ruckus equipment catalog: | Ruckus solutions have the following features:
|
| TP-LINK is a vendor offering equipment in the budget and mid-price segments. It has high quality, manufacturability, the most modern element base, provides high-quality WiFi broadcasting both indoors and outdoors. TP-LINK equipment catalog: | TP-LINK solutions have the following features:
|
|
 | is one of the most famous WiFi vendors in the world. Occupies one of the central places in the budget price segment both in popularity and manufacturability of the products offered. Ubiquiti equipment catalog: | Ubiquiti solutions have the following features:
|
| Cambium is one of the leading manufacturers of professional WiFi equipment operator and enterprise class. Occupies the middle price segment. Cambium equipment catalog: | Cambium solutions have the following features:
|
| Mikrotik - European manufacturer of budget WiFi equipment. Lowest price threshold. Provides very rich functionality. |
Svetlogorsk city buses now have the opportunity to use the Wi-Fi network for free to connect to the global web.
Wi-Fi equipment is installed on more than 60% of buses involved in urban passenger transportation. So the opportunity to ride on a bus that distributes “free” Internet is quite high. So far, the buses do not outwardly reveal their technological content, but soon they should have stickers indicating the presence of Wi-Fi on each specific bus.
I rode several city buses to test and understand how the innovation works. I will outline my experience of using it step by step to make it more clear what to do and in what order. Testing was carried out on an iPhone smartphone. Perhaps on Android devices some windows or steps will be slightly different from those presented in the article, but I think you will succeed!
How to connect to Wi-Fi on a bus (instructions with photos)
Step 1. If your smartphone has automatic notification of the possibility of connecting to a new Wi-Fi networks, then the phone itself will offer you to connect. If you do not receive such a notification, you can go to Wi-Fi settings and manually connect to the desired network. In all buses, the network we need is called the same - GomelAvto Free Wi-Fi.
Connection to this network occurs without a password. Therefore, if everything is done correctly, you will be redirected to the welcome page from Gomeloblavtotrans OJSC.
Step 2. On the welcome page we are asked to enter a number mobile phone to receive the access code. This procedure is completely free.
What is it for. In Belarus there is a law according to which access to the Internet can only be obtained after personal identification. This can be done in several ways, including through a mobile phone number.
After entering the phone number, click the “Get code” button and after a few seconds you will receive a message from Velcom with a 4-digit digital code.
Step 3. A new window will open asking you to enter the received code. There shouldn't be any difficulties here. Enter the code and click the “Login” button. If for some reason it was not possible to receive the code (for example, you entered the phone number incorrectly), click the “Back to receiving code” button and repeat Step 2.
If this step is completed correctly, then you will again see the familiar picture with the greeting from Gomeloblavtotrans OJSC.
Step 4. At the top of the window, click the “Done” button. At this moment we see that the phone disconnects from mobile data (in my case it is 3G) and switches to a Wi-Fi connection. The first website that you will see after connecting to Wi-Fi will be the official website of JSC Gomeloblavtotrans. (Apparently this increases the traffic and rating of this site)))
Step 5. ALL! You are connected to global network Internet. If you haven’t been online for a long time, you will start receiving messages from all instant messengers, notifications about likes on Instagram and other amenities. But to surf web pages, you need to minimize the connection window and go to the browser, because, unfortunately, you won’t be able to access your favorite site through the connection window.
In the browser or other applications, you can freely and in the usual way browse the Internet, communicate on in social networks and messengers. Also, at the time of testing, I could freely watch videos on YouTube. Of course, I was the only one in the salon who knew about the availability free internet on the bus, and therefore the entire access speed (1 Mb/s per bus) was mine. If you divide the connection speed between at least 10 passengers, then enjoy high speeds It's unlikely to succeed.
Negative point
The only one negative point The problem is that equipment distributing Wi-Fi can take quite a long time to start working after turning on the ignition or starting the bus (up to 10 minutes).
How it looks in practice: the bus starts after stopping at the final stop, at which time the equipment is turned on. The bus can travel several stops or even half the route (in our city they are small) before Wi-Fi is fully operational. But I think the drivers themselves are interested in ensuring that everything works always and without interruptions). Practice will show.
Instead of a conclusion
The technology and connection method seemed quite convenient to us. I was also pleased with the fact that when moving from one bus to another, you can reconnect without unnecessary movements - Wi-Fi is picked up automatically as a familiar network (if, of course, the corresponding setting is activated).
Speeds at at this stage It’s quite enough to communicate comfortably on social media. networks to all bus passengers (but that’s if you don’t watch the video). The connection signal is strong and stable.
Anyway modern technologies They are slowly reaching our city, making the life of Svetlogorsk residents a little more pleasant and convenient.
Tested by: Grigory Polessky.
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