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Google Announces Plan to Put Wi-Fi in 400 Train Stations Across India

100 points by testrun 11y ago

capkutay 11y ago
Irony of the day: While Google is planning to put Wi-Fi in 400 stations in India, there is still no Wi-Fi on trains running through Silicon Valley.
- uptown 11y ago
  Google already has those users.
- thrownaway2424 11y ago
  I wouldn't be at all surprised if you told me the trains in India are faster, more frequent, and more reliable as well. Even the Kazakhs would be ashamed of Caltrain. The only reason we put up with Caltrain is our collective hangover from the suburban car age.
  - quonn 11y ago
    > trains in India are faster, more frequent, and more reliable as well A laughable claim. Trains in India are slow, late (but probably not more than in other countries), crowded, comparatively dirty, uncomfortable and they are often lacking basic safety measures.
  - CardenB 11y ago
    This comment makes me feel like HN is becoming a parody of itself. Why does everything have to be so hyperbolic?
- outside1234 11y ago
  Google already snoops on those users because almost all of us use gmail. They don't need to provide Wi-Fi.
- Gustomaximus 11y ago
  While I've only taken a couple of short train rides in SV I recall having no problems with mobile data coming through. And most people in US have decent data caps. Is this the same for India? I know they tend to be sensitive to data usage and if they don't have the mobile coverage it's not really comparing the same thing for user need. Also more generally why should Silicon Valley have to have the best/first/most of everything Internet? This statement felt narrow minded to me. If you've not been fortunate to travel much you'll be amazed about the world outside Silicon Valley. It's definitely an epicenter of tech but absolutely not the be and end all.
- yitchelle 11y ago
  India != Silicon Valley. Not even close.
chatman 11y ago
They want to snoop on India citizens. PM Modi is selling the country to these corporations.
- snogglethorpe 11y ago
  Google's action is infinitely better than Facebook's "Facebook for everybody!" push (another current India-related news item)...
  - chatman 11y ago
    But the aims are the same. I'd change "infinitely" with "only slightly" here.
kumarvvr 11y ago
I dont see how wifi in 400 stations is going to help anyone. If the stations are in well populated areas, then mobile internet should not be a problem in any case. In rural and lesser developed areas, wifi means nothing to consumers. The younger generation does have wifi smartphones, thanks to Chinese companies putting out dead cheap ones. However, of what use is the wifi in railway stations, I fail to understand. If the use is for train information or related stuff, the govt. has to maintain that info on screens and notice boards. If it's for talking to others, well, that too is of limited use. Most people wait for maybe a couple of hours before they board onto a train. If this is to help people waiting in lounges, then I'd rather they (govt.) monetize it. Especially for those waiting in AC class lounges. In anycase, no one here really plans for long layovers in railway stations. I just dont get of what use is wifi in railway stations. Better thing for the govt. would have been to invite and pay google for creating a distributed fibre optic network across India, connecting rural villages, using their expertise in handling large amounts of data.
- chetanahuja 11y ago
  While you're being downvoted (probably due to HN aversion to "downer debbies" for tech stuff), the question is legitimate. Why just train stations (the 400 part is just a beginning I assume). I was thinking along the same lines. One plausible answer seems to be pragmatism. There's a govt. agency running fiber along train tracks all over India (http://railwire.co.in/who-we-are.html http://railwire.co.in/who-we-are.html) and this allows Google to light up the fiber using their ISP expertise and have 400 test nodes to begin with. Think of it as potentially 400 new cities where Google (or some partner) could then start a googe fiber type ISP (but perhaps use wireless local loop for quicker results).
- Tinyyy 11y ago
  Well you have to start somewhere. If they plan to build their own fibre in the future, then this is just a test run to see usage patterns and test the infrastructure. Of course you're not going to put the fibre in some unused rural area. I don't think this is a charity move from Google, and they didn't really disguise it as one (unlike Facebook).
- nness 11y ago
grecy 11y ago
It's fascinating to see when infrastructure in developing countries surpasses that of some developed countries. In Argentina, for example, every single gas station has free wifi. It works exceptionally well, and is always free.
- pjc50 11y ago
  Interesting. In Peru, every hotel had free wifi, and it was always terrible, even in relatively pricey hotels.
deftnerd 11y ago
This is smart. By offering free WiFi in 400 train stations, they're undoubtly getting the Right of Way allowances to run fiber along the majority of the rail system This will allow them to spread a Google-owned backbone across the country that they can use as the start of rolling out Google fiber in different cities. This isn't about free Wifi. It's about free Right of Way for their infrastructure.
- r0h1n 11y ago
  Where are you picking this up from? The official Google announcement [1] only talks about Google using RailTel's fiber network? 1 - http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2015/09/bringing-the-internet-to-more-indians.html http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2015/09/bringing-the-internet...
  - deftnerd 11y ago
    sigh That's what I get for making assumptions and not reading in depth enough. You're absolutely right, they're going to be leasing existing fiber.
- tn13 11y ago
  All the Railway tracks in India post 1980s were built assuming that the same track will also have cables for communication. But in reality that capacity is not much used.
maxwin 11y ago
Google, please come to Myanmar.
userbinator 11y ago
I know people usually equate WiFi with "The Internet", but the distinction is important; in particular, if Facebook's misleadingly-named Internet.org wanted to "put WiFi in train stations", they could say the same thing, but it'd just be like one big LAN. In this case, however, it really does appear to be the full Internet: "We’d like to help get these next billion Indians online—so they can access the entire web, and all of its information and opportunity" On the other hand, it makes sense for Google since most people use it for the search engine; "free Google access" is not very useful if you're not able to actually visit any sites in the search results.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- vmarsy 11y ago
  Yes, it looks more like Google's free WiFi in Starbucks coffees. By the way, Facebook renamed Internet.org "Free Basics" : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10277425 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10277425
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
cconcepts 11y ago
The practical implications of this will be interesting - I'm expecting to see "Google WiFi" honeypots at stations that don't have this. Also a possibility to see folks camped up at these stations hustling on Upwork etc - particularly in areas where mobile internet is not so reliable. Also expecting to have EVEN MORE people walk into me as they stare at their phones...
theSage 11y ago
I wonder if this will be unconditional Internet. Over the last few months the government switched off Internet in two states. --edit-- Its back again before someone points it out

100 points by testrun 11y ago

Irony of the day: While Google is planning to put Wi-Fi in 400 stations in India, there is still no Wi-Fi on trains running through Silicon Valley.

uptown 11y ago
Google already has those users.
thrownaway2424 11y ago
I wouldn't be at all surprised if you told me the trains in India are faster, more frequent, and more reliable as well. Even the Kazakhs would be ashamed of Caltrain. The only reason we put up with Caltrain is our collective hangover from the suburban car age.
- quonn 11y ago
  > trains in India are faster, more frequent, and more reliable as well A laughable claim. Trains in India are slow, late (but probably not more than in other countries), crowded, comparatively dirty, uncomfortable and they are often lacking basic safety measures.
- CardenB 11y ago
  This comment makes me feel like HN is becoming a parody of itself. Why does everything have to be so hyperbolic?
outside1234 11y ago
Google already snoops on those users because almost all of us use gmail. They don't need to provide Wi-Fi.
Gustomaximus 11y ago
While I've only taken a couple of short train rides in SV I recall having no problems with mobile data coming through. And most people in US have decent data caps. Is this the same for India? I know they tend to be sensitive to data usage and if they don't have the mobile coverage it's not really comparing the same thing for user need. Also more generally why should Silicon Valley have to have the best/first/most of everything Internet? This statement felt narrow minded to me. If you've not been fortunate to travel much you'll be amazed about the world outside Silicon Valley. It's definitely an epicenter of tech but absolutely not the be and end all.
yitchelle 11y ago
India != Silicon Valley. Not even close.

chatman 11y ago

They want to snoop on India citizens. PM Modi is selling the country to these corporations.

snogglethorpe 11y ago
Google's action is infinitely better than Facebook's "Facebook for everybody!" push (another current India-related news item)...
- chatman 11y ago
  But the aims are the same. I'd change "infinitely" with "only slightly" here.

kumarvvr 11y ago

I dont see how wifi in 400 stations is going to help anyone. If the stations are in well populated areas, then mobile internet should not be a problem in any case. In rural and lesser developed areas, wifi means nothing to consumers. The younger generation does have wifi smartphones, thanks to Chinese companies putting out dead cheap ones. However, of what use is the wifi in railway stations, I fail to understand. If the use is for train information or related stuff, the govt. has to maintain that info on screens and notice boards. If it's for talking to others, well, that too is of limited use. Most people wait for maybe a couple of hours before they board onto a train. If this is to help people waiting in lounges, then I'd rather they (govt.) monetize it. Especially for those waiting in AC class lounges. In anycase, no one here really plans for long layovers in railway stations. I just dont get of what use is wifi in railway stations. Better thing for the govt. would have been to invite and pay google for creating a distributed fibre optic network across India, connecting rural villages, using their expertise in handling large amounts of data.

chetanahuja 11y ago
While you're being downvoted (probably due to HN aversion to "downer debbies" for tech stuff), the question is legitimate. Why just train stations (the 400 part is just a beginning I assume). I was thinking along the same lines. One plausible answer seems to be pragmatism. There's a govt. agency running fiber along train tracks all over India (http://railwire.co.in/who-we-are.html http://railwire.co.in/who-we-are.html) and this allows Google to light up the fiber using their ISP expertise and have 400 test nodes to begin with. Think of it as potentially 400 new cities where Google (or some partner) could then start a googe fiber type ISP (but perhaps use wireless local loop for quicker results).
Tinyyy 11y ago
Well you have to start somewhere. If they plan to build their own fibre in the future, then this is just a test run to see usage patterns and test the infrastructure. Of course you're not going to put the fibre in some unused rural area. I don't think this is a charity move from Google, and they didn't really disguise it as one (unlike Facebook).
nness 11y ago

grecy 11y ago

It's fascinating to see when infrastructure in developing countries surpasses that of some developed countries. In Argentina, for example, every single gas station has free wifi. It works exceptionally well, and is always free.

pjc50 11y ago
Interesting. In Peru, every hotel had free wifi, and it was always terrible, even in relatively pricey hotels.

deftnerd 11y ago

This is smart. By offering free WiFi in 400 train stations, they're undoubtly getting the Right of Way allowances to run fiber along the majority of the rail system This will allow them to spread a Google-owned backbone across the country that they can use as the start of rolling out Google fiber in different cities. This isn't about free Wifi. It's about free Right of Way for their infrastructure.

r0h1n 11y ago
Where are you picking this up from? The official Google announcement [1] only talks about Google using RailTel's fiber network? 1 - http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2015/09/bringing-the-internet-to-more-indians.html http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2015/09/bringing-the-internet...
- deftnerd 11y ago
  sigh That's what I get for making assumptions and not reading in depth enough. You're absolutely right, they're going to be leasing existing fiber.
tn13 11y ago
All the Railway tracks in India post 1980s were built assuming that the same track will also have cables for communication. But in reality that capacity is not much used.

maxwin 11y ago

Google, please come to Myanmar.

userbinator 11y ago

I know people usually equate WiFi with "The Internet", but the distinction is important; in particular, if Facebook's misleadingly-named Internet.org wanted to "put WiFi in train stations", they could say the same thing, but it'd just be like one big LAN. In this case, however, it really does appear to be the full Internet: "We’d like to help get these next billion Indians online—so they can access the entire web, and all of its information and opportunity" On the other hand, it makes sense for Google since most people use it for the search engine; "free Google access" is not very useful if you're not able to actually visit any sites in the search results.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
vmarsy 11y ago
Yes, it looks more like Google's free WiFi in Starbucks coffees. By the way, Facebook renamed Internet.org "Free Basics" : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10277425 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10277425
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

cconcepts 11y ago

The practical implications of this will be interesting - I'm expecting to see "Google WiFi" honeypots at stations that don't have this. Also a possibility to see folks camped up at these stations hustling on Upwork etc - particularly in areas where mobile internet is not so reliable. Also expecting to have EVEN MORE people walk into me as they stare at their phones...

theSage 11y ago

I wonder if this will be unconditional Internet. Over the last few months the government switched off Internet in two states. --edit-- Its back again before someone points it out