Published Tuesday, April 8, 2008, by the Sacramento Bee

Gold River WiFi firm says it's near deal with BART

By Bob Shallit
bshallit@sacbee.com

A Gold River startup company is on the verge of a breakthrough
deal with BART subway system to provide lightning-fast Internet
connections for thousands of daily commuters.

Even while zipping along beneath the San Francisco Bay.

WiFi Rail <http://www.wifirail.net> has been testing its system on
various Bay Area Rapid Transit routes for the past several months.

"Hopefully we'll have (a contract) by the end of the month," says
Cooper Lee, CEO of the two-year-old company.

BART spokesman Linton Johnson confirms that negotiations are under
way and that testing "has been going very well."

If a deal is struck, Leene says WiFi Rail's will install the system
on BART's most-heavily traveled underground routes -- in Oakland,
San Francisco and the Transbay Tube -- within 120 days. Complete
coverage of BART's entire 103-mile system would follow.

WiFi Rail also is in talks with other large urban commuter rail
systems, including those in Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta and Los Angeles,
says the 31-year-old company founder.

Users would pay about $30 per month (or $10.95 daily) to access the
system, which delivers data at a blazing 15 megs per second -- about
10 times faster than standard DSL. That speed "knocks the socks off"
mobile Wi-Fi systems now operating on long-haul trains in Canada and
Europe, says Lee, who previously worked on telecom projects in Africa
and Mexico.

By connecting seamlessly to Wi-Fi access points deployed along
the track, customers can even do video and audio conferencing --
something impossible with existing Internet hook-ups via cellular,
he says. Or they can download an iTunes movie that "immediately
starts playing, without any hiccups."

Sacramento attorney Gilles Attia, who is the firm's corporate
counsel, anticipates huge demand from rail commuters.

"Take a BART rider who gets on at Walnut Creek and spends 45 minutes
going to downtown San Francisco" and back, says Attia. By plugging
into WiFi Rail, "he's added 1.5 hours to his work day."

The company launched in late 2005 with $1.5 million raised from local
angel investors. Attia expects WiFi to raise another $15 million to
$20 million in a second financing round later this year.

For the rest of Bob Shallit's column, see Wednesday's business
section. Reach Shallit at (916) 321-1049.

[BATN: See also:

Europe to allow cell phone service on planes
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/38000

WiFi internet access coming to Switzerland-France TGV trains
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/37853

European HSR offers WiFi to gain market share, biz travelers
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/37294

WiFi Rail completes wireless demonstration test on BART
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/37193

American Airlines to offer in-flight WiFi using 92 US cell towers
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/37151

Providing Wi-Fi on trains proves difficult
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/36725

Hwy 17 Express buses to get free WiFi
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/36270

Virgin America says it will bring WiFi to the skies
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/36174

Alaska Airlines to test in-flight WiFi service
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/36144

Caltrain shelves plan for much-touted, long-awaited WiFi
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/36050

Monterey-Salinas Transit picks Parvus for express bus WiFi
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/35910

Wireless CCTV via WiMAX demonstrated on Amtrak Capitol trains
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/33648

Caltrain OK's $1m toward building on-board WiFi network (4 Nov 06)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/32717

Caltrain OK's $1m to provide on-board WiFi by next October (3 Nov 06)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/32698

Caltrain may offer on-board high-speed Wi-Fi by year-end (1 Aug 06)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/31628

Caltrain unable to find workable Wi-Fi after year-long search (4 Apr 05)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/23643 ]

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