For those who have been carrying around your laptop or iPad in a failed attempt at tracking down the single free Wi-Fi train on QR's network, then there is some good news for you. Free Wi-Fi will be installed on all 160 and 260 series trains (the new looking ones) by the end of next year, with work starting in October. This will allow commuters lucky enough to get a seat (or at least something to lean on) to be able to use Wi-Fi during their commute on a fair proportion of QR's trains. This may be a big bonus for longer distance commuters. BrizCommuter is unsure of the speed of the Wi-Fi connections.
One of the reasons for the installation of Wi-Fi is the addition of live streaming security CCTV. This would theoretically allow the police to view live happenings from inside a carriage in response to phone calls about occurrences. Of course, the method of selecting the correct camera needs to be easy for this to be effective (e.g. based on carriage number). BrizCommuter hopes that this can be used to catch and fine the worst behaviour on public transport - aisle seat hogs and handbags on seats. Maybe QR can even use the live CCTV to see how overcrowded their trains are? BrizCommuter also wonders if Wi-Fi can be installed on station platforms to give passengers something to do whilst waiting unacceptably long times for their trains?
... and provide free internet to those of us lucky enough to live over the road from a station?
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