Quality Wi-Fi on the bus. How do I do it?

Still don't have Wi-Fi on your bus? What are you waiting for to connect your passengers? Discover the most effective and profitable internet solution, we help you create the best Wi-Fi option for your vehicle.

Every day mobile communications, and especially internet connectivity , is more important. People demand more and better communication and data services. We have very clear and proven examples of how an adequate internet connectivity service can lead to an increase in the number of customers, and greater loyalty.

The pioneers in offering this type of service to their clients were the hotels, offering their clients Wi-Fi internet connection. It didn't take long for the industry to join in, and later other businesses such as restaurants or cafeterias, and finally whole cities ended up offering this service through local administrations. Undoubtedly, this is a firm trend towards permanent internet connectivity clearly demanded by all of us.

This new service has been introduced in the bus sector later. And although it is still at an early stage in Spain, the data shows a clear trend for operators to offer internet on board . Today we can already say that internet on board buses and trains is a reality and above all a generality in other countries where passenger mobility connectivity is the norm and not an exception branded as “luxury”.

How to monetize the investment?

The first thought that a bus operator may have when considering whether or not to offer this service is whether it will be able to monetize its investment . Here the approach must be innovative and not traditional because on rare occasions a supplement may be charged for having Wi-Fi on board, so it will be a free service. So how to monetize the investment? The answer is simple, it is an additional service with high added value that will allow the operator to be more competitive in its offer, differentiating itself from other competitors that at similar prices DO NOT offer this increasingly demanded service. The result is that they will be much more likely to win the operation, so that is where that “monetization” should be seen and not in the extra income that the Wi-Fi service charge would mean.

Why offer Wi-Fi on the bus?

It is necessary to be clear about several factors or types of transport services that decisively affect the perception of value by passengers:

• Since these are mobile environments , your mobile devices are susceptible to poor signal reception, so a good Wi-Fi system will improve your browsing experience .
• If foreign passengers move, they usually disable their data to avoid high roaming costs. In this scenario, the Wi-Fi service is even more relevant, since we offer our passengers the opportunity to stay connected through their social networks, email, etc.
• If incursions are made to different foreign countries , normally the passenger will tend to disable their data to avoid roaming costs as in the previous case. There are currently multi- country solutions that allow the operator to offer internet to its passengers without paying for roaming. In this case, the Wi-Fi service is much more important than in any other because it is an important need.
• Convention and congress services as well as university services, in which passengers are large Internet consumers and therefore demand Wi-Fi service.

What is a Wi-Fi system?

After all this discussed here, what is essentially a Wi-Fi system? Basically it is a router with a mobile data connection, that is, inside it houses a SIM card from a telephone operator with a data contract. But in the same way and following the dynamics in basic definition, we could give the example of a bus, whose basic definition would be a chassis with bodywork, and as we all know, that is something very broad and with many important variants.

Key factors for a correct choice of Wi-Fi on the bus

• What type of transport service do I perform? Is it discretionary? Do I cross several countries? Or maybe it is regular and with a subsidized ticket price? Here there are a series of variants to take into account because they are decisive when it comes to proposing one solution or another.
• Do I need high speed for the profile of my clients ? Maybe we need to come up with a 4G solution.
• Am I interested in having control of my Wi-Fi system , that is, to know to what extent it is used and how it is used? This is important for transport companies where there is a developed Quality department or in companies without such a department but with a company culture focused on service quality.
• Would the system be implemented in a large fleet of vehicles ? If so, we will need a centralized solution to facilitate management.

As you can see, choosing a Wi-Fi system is not something trivial and several aspects must be taken into account to be successful and not regret the decision made in the future. It is common to observe how all these aspects are analyzed a posteriori, in many cases when the decision is wrongly made, which implies an extra investment to obtain the Wi-Fi solution that is really in accordance with the characteristics of the transport operator.

In future posts, we will learn more about Wi-Fi systems as well as the detailed aspects that we must take into account when deciding which is the best for our needs .

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