Friday, October 21, 2011

RFID cards compete for supremacy!

go card internals!
Most go card users will know that it uses radio-frequency identification (RFID) to communicate with the readers. Many go card users would have learnt by now that having other RFID cards in their wallet can cause issues with go card readers, notably an "Invalid Card" error. The most common offenders are usually work ID passes, however there are some new offenders on the block battling for radio-frequency domination every time you try to touch on or off - the contactless Visa PayWave and MasterCard PayPass cards.  BrizCommuter has recently seen an increased spate of "Invalid Card" errors from other users, and then had issues himself whilst using another public transport smart card system whilst on holiday abroad with a Visa Pay Wave card in his wallet for the first time. Despite the obvious give away in the name of the card, BrizCommuter (and it seems lots of other users) did not realise that these are RFID cards, similar in design to the go card. So unless you want to multiple fixed fares, and the seemingly endless wait to get refunds from TransLink, do yourselves a favour, and make sure your go card is in a different wallet to Visa PayWave, MasterCard PayPass, and all other RFID cards! Of course, this begs a question in our card carrying world that when all cards become RFID cards, instead of carrying 10 cards on one wallet, will we have to carry 10 cards in 10 wallets?

PS: TransLink, can you make those go card wallets a bit smaller, as go cards just float about in the oversized plastic wallets.

2 comments:

  1. I question the wisdom of using a credit-card format at all. If you can't keep them in your wallet anyway, it seems pointless.

    The alternative RFID form factor of a 50c sized disc (key fob) would be more attractive to me.

    Actually, I'm holding out of for the Ring Of (transport) Power.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What is the function of RFID cards? i really don't know.
    Plastic Cards
    Plastic Card
    Scratch Cards

    ReplyDelete

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