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End of Bus Wi-Fi


Union Tpke

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6 minutes ago, paulrivera said:

Just yesterday the service wasn’t popular because everyone had their own phones with their own data.

For better or for worse, the (MTA) is proving the governor right. They tried to pull a fast one by sneak cutting one of his babies and they got caught. Then they complain when Cuomo chastises the MTA on TV.

The battles the governor chooses to fight the MTA about might not be the best ones to be fighting about, but that’s a whole other discussion.

I tell you, this is just hilarious. (MTA) thought no one was watching, til Cuomo got the earful about it.

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13 hours ago, WestFarms36 said:

I tell you, this is just hilarious. (MTA) thought no one was watching, til Cuomo got the earful about it.

... Too bad they approve the reorganization plan and possibly Andy Byford's job.. We are slowly approaching the (MTA) New York City transit authority of the 1970's and 1980's with the help of The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

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3 minutes ago, QM1to6Ave said:

I'm on the MTA Wifi right now on the QM6 and it is working beautifully...I see three other folks on their laptops as well connected to it rather than a personal hotspot. 

That's good to see. I guess (MTA) just needs to toughen up on the WIFI and make sure it is ALWAYS WORKING and work out with Verizon to Iron out the kinks and make it faster.

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1 hour ago, Cait Sith said:

From my experience mainly on express buses, the Wi-Fi reception had a tendency to be worse than my own LTE signal.

The only group of people I see this taking this bad are the folks who don't have unlimited data plans.

I have unlimited on my phone, but my plan severely restricts tethering to my laptop, which is where I do most of my work. That's why the MTA wifi has come in very handy for me. The initial reception issues have largely been resolved. 

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15 minutes ago, QM1to6Ave said:

I have unlimited on my phone, but my plan severely restricts tethering to my laptop, which is where I do most of my work. That's why the MTA wifi has come in very handy for me. The initial reception issues have largely been resolved. 

Not to worry... It's here to stay...

https://thecity.nyc/2019/07/mta-sends-scrambled-signals-on-little-used-usd2-5m-bus-wi-fi.html?utm_content=buffer37121&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=buffer&fbclid=IwAR0mPYqtjcOcK5KY07GXEqEv-pUrAikseTTnN3Lhsr8POMac1lV84xzVNr0

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5 hours ago, Future ENY OP said:

... Too bad they approve the reorganization plan and possibly Andy Byford's job.. We are slowly approaching the (MTA) New York City transit authority of the 1970's and 1980's with the help of The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Except the Port Authority hasn't quite been the same since 9/11 and are going through their own capital projects (PATH and PABT mainly)

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6 minutes ago, Lil 57 said:

Alot of times it would take 20-30 minutes after I get on the bus for my phone to detect the WiFi and ask me to sign in.

I've noticed the same thing at times, especially with IPhones. I usually manually go to my wifi settings and choose the network from the list. 

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1 hour ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

It might last on express buses where demand is kind of high for it, but on all other buses. I still think it's going the way of the dodo, it's costly, cosmetic and little used to begin with. This is the last thing the agency should focus on.

Edited by NoHacksJustKhaks
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6 minutes ago, NoHacksJustKhaks said:

It might last on express buses where demand is kind of high for it, but on all other buses. I still think it's going the way of the dodo, it's costly, cosmetic and little used to begin with. This is the last thing the agency should focus on.

I personally don't use it. I have Verizon unlimited for my iPad and cell phone, but some people use it.

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22 minutes ago, NoHacksJustKhaks said:

It might last on express buses where demand is kind of high for it, but on all other buses. I still think it's going the way of the dodo, it's costly, cosmetic and little used to begin with. This is the last thing the agency should focus on.

Also, the MTA is paying $5 per GB. That’s over $100 for most users mobile limits (22GB) and $1000 to reach the equivalent of Comcast’s data limit (1TB).

in other words, most of us are paying less for our own data than the MTA does. I pay $25 for 1GB high speed (grandfathered plan) but whatever, I still get unlimited talk and text.

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43 minutes ago, paulrivera said:

Also, the MTA is paying $5 per GB.

That's probably why sites like YouTube don't work. Video streaming uses a lot of data so the (MTA) blocks it so they're not paying a ton of money every day for WiFi.

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1 hour ago, Lil 57 said:

That's probably why sites like YouTube don't work. Video streaming uses a lot of data so the (MTA) blocks it so they're not paying a ton of money every day for WiFi.

The average video stream goes 3 mbps, which if you do the math would cost the MTA 2 cents per second, $1.20 per minute, and $72 per hour.

Holy shit, that would be like Access-A-Ride levels of financial bleeding.

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10 hours ago, paulrivera said:

Also, the MTA is paying $5 per GB. That’s over $100 for most users mobile limits (22GB) and $1000 to reach the equivalent of Comcast’s data limit (1TB).

in other words, most of us are paying less for our own data than the MTA does. I pay $25 for 1GB high speed (grandfathered plan) but whatever, I still get unlimited talk and text.

Where has it been stated that the MTA is paying the $5/GB figure? I saw that tweet in the story linked above (and nothing in the story, if it's such a shocking revelation), and no sources cited.

Even though the MTA certainly excels at incompetence, I just can't fathom a figure such as that even remotely being found "fair and reasonable" during negotiations. Anyone seriously want to tell me that whoever's dealing with this Verizon contract from an RFP isn't going to be told by "MTA Enterprise" (or whatever their IT department is called) the cost for internal wireless services, with everything from the devices issued to people on the ground to the bus WiFi for location information (i.e. BusTime), to  provide a jumping-off point for their contract?

According to this audit from the Comptroller from June 2018, the contract was approved in December 2015. I know I have the Book from then on another harddrive, and MTA has scrubbed access to it even via Wayback Machine. Maybe someone could dig it out and see what the BAFO was -- I still don't think that $5/GB is going to be there. @Union Tpke

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On 7/26/2019 at 7:34 PM, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I tipped him onto that story.

22 hours ago, DetSMART45 said:

Where has it been stated that the MTA is paying the $5/GB figure? I saw that tweet in the story linked above (and nothing in the story, if it's such a shocking revelation), and no sources cited.

Even though the MTA certainly excels at incompetence, I just can't fathom a figure such as that even remotely being found "fair and reasonable" during negotiations. Anyone seriously want to tell me that whoever's dealing with this Verizon contract from an RFP isn't going to be told by "MTA Enterprise" (or whatever their IT department is called) the cost for internal wireless services, with everything from the devices issued to people on the ground to the bus WiFi for location information (i.e. BusTime), to  provide a jumping-off point for their contract?

According to this audit from the Comptroller from June 2018, the contract was approved in December 2015. I know I have the Book from then on another harddrive, and MTA has scrubbed access to it even via Wayback Machine. Maybe someone could dig it out and see what the BAFO was -- I still don't think that $5/GB is going to be there. @Union Tpke

Which month?

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1 hour ago, Union Tpke said:

Which month?

The comptroller PDF from June 2018 leads off with saying the contract was inked in December 2015, ahead of the Cuomo 2016 new livery/buses/WiFi public statements.

I know I have all of 2015's Books on another harddrive (not mounted right now), but the MTA has scrubbed access on their "current" archive, as well as deleting it from being found by Wayback Machine. It appears that it would be in the December 2015 Bus Committee book (if that's when the Board ratified it), but could also be in November 2015.

Edited by DetSMART45
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6 minutes ago, DetSMART45 said:

The comptroller PDF from June 2018 leads off with saying the contract was inked in December 2015, ahead of the Cuomo 2016 new livery/buses/WiFi public statements.

I know I have all of 2015's Books on another harddrive (not mounted right now), but the MTA has scrubbed access on their "current" archive, as well as deleting it from being found by Wayback Machine. It appears that it would be in the December 2015 Bus Committee book (if that's when the Board ratified it), but could also be in November 2015.

I don't see anything from here: http://web.mta.info/mta/news/books/archive/151116_1000_Transit&BUS.pdf

or here: http://web.mta.info/mta/news/books/archive/151214_1030_Transit&Bus.pdf

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 7/24/2019 at 9:44 PM, paulrivera said:

Might as well go back to the blue stripe paint scheme at that point.

33773023552_0a1ac813f7_b.jpg

So why go with the blue & yellow scheme if they’re to remove WiFi service on buses? That’s more money they have to spend on doing that.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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