You get on the bus, turn the wifi and browsing, please – Reuters

                 

                         
                     

                 

 
                         

The Bus Public Transport Society of Porto (STCP) leaves the vicinity of the Porto City Hall shortly after 15h and fingers and eyes of the passengers are aware of the mobile devices they carry. The mayor, Rui Moreira, takes a tablet, Councilman Innovation and Environment, Filipe Araujo, prefers the phone and tried during the journey successfully download a photograph. The wifi service STCP network is functioning from this Monday and until 15h, at least four thousand users had accessed the internet via this route.

                     

                         STCP buses of 478, 404 with no wifi at trial period of six months. A partnership of several organizations, including the local authority, STCP and spin-off Veniam’Works within the Future Cities, which will allow users of public buses can always be connected through mobile phone network, a wireless network shared between vehicles and the optical fiber network from the Porto Digital.

The bus goes through the streets and squares and always with wifi on the system can read and send emails, consult sites and Facebook stalking. Those responsible for Veniam’Works explain that the speed and capacity of access depends on the number of people. “If people are just doing simple queries, 20 people within the same bus can do so without problems. If you want to download videos or listening to music, I think five or six people can do it simultaneously, “says Susana Sargento, the company responsible for developing the network between vehicles, which has aroused the curiosity of cities like Barcelona (Spain) or San Francisco (United States)

João Barros, founded the company, secure the unit that is embedded in each of the buses with wifi -. allowing the capture of signals and information collection to more varied level (since pollution levels along the route to the speed that the vehicle is running), transforming them into true “mobile sensors” – and explains that it is possible to “optimize the network for it to respond to more users.” But this need still need to be evaluated and that is precisely what will happen over the six-month trial that began now.

John Velez de Carvalho, chairman of the board of directors of STCP, explained that the idea now implemented aims to “provide a better service to users”, noting that during the experimental period, the functioning of wifi network “has no cost” to the company. Then, if it is to continue, it will be different. “We will have to see how it will do,” he said, assuming that “the user ends up paying something” of value imputed to the company. However, João Barros says that the system rely on the fixed network through the Porto Digital reduces costs. “The wireless network is much more expensive, about ten times more expensive,” he said.

Have Filipe Araújo stressed that this is an opportunity for citizens to participate in what is being done within the Future Cities. “It’s the first time we put the citizen to test what is being developed in the last five years. We are inviting them to try and say what they think, “he said.

The reaction of users is essential for the assessment that the project leaders will have to make the service, so users are urged to convey their experiences through the normal channels of the public company or on the Facebook page of STCP Free Wifi.

Using the service is free and does not require any membership, simply connecting the wifi and access STCP / Porto Digital Network.