Wi-Fi for Heathrow Express

15-minute journey gets blessed with WiMAX technology

18 April 2007 15:49 GMT / By Ryan Haynes

If there was any journey you really needed to access the Internet, then it must be the 15-minute trip from London Paddington to Heathrow Airport.

Launching next week T-Mobile, Nomad Digital and Heathrow Express have teamed up to offer Wi-Fi on the move. It has a nifty connection of 8Mbs throughout the entire journey between London and the airport, including the full-length of the 6km tunnel section.

It is apparently the first time that WiMAX technology has been deployed underground for high-speed train-to-shore communications anywhere in the world.

WiMAX provides a single streamed network for internet connection without using patches of Wi-Fi networks, essentially like a mobile network for the web.

Nokia are to begin developing WiMAX enabled phones for 2008 and Intel has promised it first dual-mode Wi-Fi and WiMax chip for next year.

If you plan on using the Heathrow Express service, just make sure your laptop is on ready to use, or it is a quick start-up. Otherwise you might be at the airport sooner than you've actually connected.