Dublin’s National Radio Cabs has announced today that its taxis will boast wireless access for tech savvy travellers. Initially this will just be a trial, but we imagine uptake will be determined by the buzz it generates as much as the uptake.
The really good news here is that the wireless will be free, which makes this a fairly interesting entry for the Dublin market, which seems to lack free wireless hotspots in general. Moreover, The Irish Times is carrying the story that taxi driver Marty Fallon has been carrying free wireless access in his taxi since last Easter.
Much as we’re very interested in this development, it’s hard not to wonder about how effective in-cab wireless will be. While it might seem like a wonderful idea to have the internet available on the way home from a night out, if you’ve managed to get yourself into a state where you can’t live without internet access for the duration of a drive without moving towards picking up an internet capable phone you might want to examine that reasoning.
Long train journeys are a different story and while we’ve heard that there are companies rolling out wireless to trains we’ve yet to encounter any. We’d love some reliable internet on inter-city trains in Ireland; it’d make those journeys that bit more bearable.
You can read more about in-cab wireless over at The Irish Times.
July 10, 2009 at 4:28 pm |
WOW! hopefully the whole world soon follows Dublins policy….thks for sharing
July 10, 2009 at 4:59 pm |
Takes the Irish to do it right.
July 10, 2009 at 5:16 pm |
So…that is good information…and you can get listen Michael Jackson Radio Streaming from Taxi….ha ha…
July 10, 2009 at 5:23 pm |
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July 10, 2009 at 5:32 pm |
I love Ireland; home of the most friendly and child-like-open heartedness on the entire planet, methinks! This makes me smile…even if it isn’t practical and doesn’t really work, how fun and accommodating.
Cheers!
July 10, 2009 at 5:47 pm |
This sounds like an interesting idea. Sure, most people can live without internet access for a short taxi ride, but what about longer journeys. A couple of weeks ago, for example, I took a taxi to the airport which took just over half an hour. Not too long, but it would be nice to have been able to check whether my flight was delayed. It could be a very convenient thing, and it’ll be interesting to see if it does catch on.
I’ve also yet to come across a train with wireless internet. I’m not sure how effective that’ll be though; losing the internet in the middle of surfing because I’m going through a tunnel sounds like a repeat of phone calls on the train. “You’re breaking up…!”
July 10, 2009 at 5:53 pm |
internet on trains—and not so long ago telephones only hung on walls—the times are moving faster then trains…
July 13, 2009 at 9:40 am |
Wasn’t that long ago that you had to order a phone line and wait for it in a fashion similar to waiting for a car in East Germany
July 22, 2009 at 2:09 am |
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