Canadian Wi-Fi service provider Spotnik Mobile announced yesterday that its service is now up and running on VIA Rail trains running between Montreal and Quebec City. I've used a VIA Rail train service before, albeit from a different provider, but using the same basic network architecture and it's pretty good. A satellite-based service takes the network from the train into space and back down to a base station which plugs into an Internet backbone. On the train itself, the satellite signal is fed to a plain-vanilla Wi-Fi base station and the signal is then broadcast to Wi-Fi equipped devices on board that train. So far, the service is available only to travellers in VIA first-class cabins. And, even better, the service is free to travellers for the time being.
VIA also offers a similar service in its first-class cars between Toronto and Montreal and has either launched or will soon be launching a service on runs between Ottawa and Montreal.