MBTA passengers will sample wireless service

BOSTON – Passengers on the Worcester-Framingham commuter-rail line out of South Station will be the first to sample free wireless Internet service under a pilot program announced last week by Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
The pilot program is “one of the first programs of this type on a U.S. commuter-rail system,” MBTA General Manager Daniel A. Grabauskas said in a statement.
The weekday-only service – called WiFi Commuter Rail Connect, and slated to begin in the middle of this week – will bring free wireless Internet access to at least one car on every inbound and outbound train on the line. Those cars will bear signs indicating WiFi is available.
Forty-one passenger coaches on the Worcester-Framingham line are being outfitted with wireless routers in preparation for the service, the MBTA said. The routers will enable passengers in those coaches to connect to the Internet via their laptop computers, cellular phones, PDAs or other WiFi-enabled devices during their commutes to and from Boston’s South Station.