Collegiate Times

The New River Valley will soon be more connected than ever as Blacksburg Transit goes wireless with a pilot program offering Internet service aboard select buses.

The New River Valley will soon be more connected than ever as Blacksburg Transit goes wireless with a pilot program offering Internet service aboard select buses.

The new service, created as the result of a partnership between Citizens Telephone Cooperative, based in Floyd, and Blacksburg Transit, has already begun wireless Internet service aboard a single bus, but plans are in the works to add six more by the end of May. ?We?re still testing, but we should have them all done by the end of the month,? said Tim Witten, manager of BT Access.

?We?re doing it as a pilot program. We?re deploying this to see how it works, and hope it would be a really attractive part of our service, and serve as an example to the rest of Virginia,? Witten said.

The program is being paid for by a series of grants from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation and the federal government, thus restricting the number of buses that will receive wireless service.

For riders using the service, the connection will operate similar to a standard wireless hotspot. Any wireless-ready laptop or PDA will be able to connect to the Internet through a wireless router aboard the bus. The router is connected to a network card that allows the router to connect to the Citizens? broadband wireless network, and then on to the Internet. Users can expect to get cable-quality speeds, depending on the number of users per bus. ?As long as they?re not all streaming video, you could have 32 users per bus checking email and doing basic browsing,? said Dennis Reece, Internet manager for Citizens.

Despite being new to Blacksburg, the technology involved isn?t entirely untested. ?This isn?t new technology,? Witten said. ?King County (Wash.) was one of the first to do this,? he continued.

The King County bus service, which serves metropolitan Seattle, rolled out its pilot wireless Internet program in September 2005 on 29 buses serving two routes. The shuttle system that serves Google Inc.?s Mountain View, Calif. campus also offers wireless Internet for commuters. Globally, the Paris Metro debuted a wireless-enabled bus in late 2004. Unlike these big-city programs, BT doesn?t plan to offer wireless Internet on every bus just yet. ?This is just a pilot program,? Witten said. ?What route (the buses) will be on will vary from day to day.?

But don?t jump on the BT for free Internet just yet. Service is still spotty in many areas served by BT, and the system won?t be fully online until August, when Citizens plans to finish construction of two new repeater towers in Blacksburg. ?The plan is to cover from Blacksburg all the way to (Interstate) 81, including the Two Town Trolley,? said Gary Tickle, a technician for Citizens. ?(The Blacksburg towers) should be online by August 1,? he continued.

While students are sure to enjoy the possibility of checking email and instant messaging on the way to class, one citizen had questions about the need for the service. ?A lot of times when we?re riding the bus, it?s just for short hops ? I don?t think I?d bring my laptop for the bus,? said David Fritz, an electrical engineer at Virginia Tech. ?I do think it?s got a lot of potential,? he said.

The driver of the prototype internet-enabled bus, Valerie Weeks, didn?t believe the Internet service would change her job very much, but added, ?I wouldn?t be surprised to see people riding a few loops to take advantage of the free Internet.?

?It?s just incredible to be riding in a bus down the highway at 55 miles an hour and be downloading your email,? Witten said.

The new service, created as the result of a partnership between Citizens Telephone Cooperative, based in Floyd, and Blacksburg Transit, has already begun wireless Internet service aboard a single bus, but plans are in the works to add six more by the end of May. ?We?re still testing, but we should have them all done by the end of the month,? said Tim Witten, manager of BT Access.

?We?re doing it as a pilot program. We?re deploying this to see how it works, and hope it would be a really attractive part of our service, and serve as an example to the rest of Virginia,? Witten said.

The program is being paid for by a series of grants from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation and the federal government, thus restricting the number of buses that will receive wireless service.

For riders using the service, the connection will operate similar to a standard wireless hotspot. Any wireless-ready laptop or PDA will be able to connect to the Internet through a wireless router aboard the bus. The router is connected to a network card that allows the router to connect to the Citizens? broadband wireless network, and then on to the Internet. Users can expect to get cable-quality speeds, depending on the number of users per bus. ?As long as they?re not all streaming video, you could have 32 users per bus checking email and doing basic browsing,? said Dennis Reece, Internet manager for Citizens.

Despite being new to Blacksburg, the technology involved isn?t entirely untested. ?This isn?t new technology,? Witten said. ?King County (Wash.) was one of the first to do this,? he continued.

The King County bus service, which serves metropolitan Seattle, rolled out its pilot wireless Internet program in September 2005 on 29 buses serving two routes. The shuttle system that serves Google Inc.?s Mountain View, Calif. campus also offers wireless Internet for commuters. Globally, the Paris Metro debuted a wireless-enabled bus in late 2004. Unlike these big-city programs, BT doesn?t plan to offer wireless Internet on every bus just yet. ?This is just a pilot program,? Witten said. ?What route (the buses) will be on will vary from day to day.?

But don?t jump on the BT for free Internet just yet. Service is still spotty in many areas served by BT, and the system won?t be fully online until August, when Citizens plans to finish construction of two new repeater towers in Blacksburg. ?The plan is to cover from Blacksburg all the way to (Interstate) 81, including the Two Town Trolley,? said Gary Tickle, a technician for Citizens. ?(The Blacksburg towers) should be online by August 1,? he continued.

While students are sure to enjoy the possibility of checking email and instant messaging on the way to class, one citizen had questions about the need for the service. ?A lot of times when we?re riding the bus, it?s just for short hops ? I don?t think I?d bring my laptop for the bus,? said David Fritz, an electrical engineer at Virginia Tech. ?I do think it?s got a lot of potential,? he said.

The driver of the prototype internet-enabled bus, Valerie Weeks, didn?t believe the Internet service would change her job very much, but added, ?I wouldn?t be surprised to see people riding a few loops to take advantage of the free Internet.?

?It?s just incredible to be riding in a bus down the highway at 55 miles an hour and be downloading your email,? Witten said.