Comcast has gotten the green light to offer its Wi-Fi service at 13 PATCO train stations in New Jersey and its hometown of Philadelphia starting this summer.
The commuter rail line announced on Thursday that the operations and maintenance committee of its board of directors had endorsed Comcast’s proposal for Wi-Fi at the stations. The Wi-Fi service will be free to Comcast’s subscribers, who can log in with their Xfinity IDs and passwords, while non-subscribers can register with an e-mail address upon accepting the terms of use. Pricing for non-subscribers wasn’t available.
“We’re excited the operations and maintenance committee of PATCO’s board selected Comcast and we’re delighted to provide fast, reliable Wi-Fi access to PATCO customers,” said Amalia O’Sullivan, vice president of Xfinity Internet, Comcast Cable. “Access to Xfinity WiFi at their train platforms will enable our customers and non-customers alike the ability to surf the net, stream videos and communicate with family and friends for no additional fee thereby saving them money on their wireless bills. These new locations will soon be part of our growing network of more than 8 million Xfinity WiFi hotspots available across the nation.”
PATCO said it had been working with Comcast for several months to design network at the stations.
“Comcast has been a great partner and has done a fantastic job in creating a systematic plan to provide seamless WiFi coverage at our stations,” said John Rink, PATCO’s general manager.
Comcast is already offering its Wi-Fi service at transit stations operated by SEPTA and NJ Transit. Last year Comcast rolled out is Xfinity WiFi service on Boston area commuter platforms through an agreement with MBTA.
Also in 2014, Cablevision announced its Optimum WiFi service was up and running at 11 NJ Transit stations. Cablevision has also been working with New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to provide Wi-Fi to its commuter train users, but no deal has been announced.
Last year Comcast had a stated goal of 8 million access points by the end of 2014. It lays claim to having the fastest and largest Wi-Fi network in the nation. One way that Comcast was able to increase the number of access points it has deployed was by installing dual access gateways in its subscribers’ homes that enable separate public SSIDs.
Comcast is also a member of the CableWiFi roaming alliance that also includes Cablevision, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Bright House Networks. The partnership enables roaming on more than 300,000 access points across the nation.
