It is a painful experience that any TGV passenger has lived: connectivity aboard the oars. Too often, the quality of the Wi-Fi service offered in the trains is disappointing.
In question: The fact that this Wi-Fi is more frequently connected to 4G/5G networks of mobile operators. However, the speed and gray areas (without nearby antennas) sometimes avoid having a comfortable and without cutting connection, despite the efforts of the railway company and the best coverage of Orange’s mobile network, Bouyguestel, SFR and free thanks to more antennas along the roads.
According The letterThe SNCF launched consultations for a call for tenders that would be launched in the last quarter. It is about offering a very high speed connection through low orbit satellite technology. Which reduces the number of possible candidates.
“Change the game”
Specifically, we must attend a fight between Elon Musk’s Starlink service and the offer of French Etelsat with Oneweb (the two companies merged in 2023).
The American service benefits from a certain advance in its competitor. In addition to his presence in the airlines airlines, Starlink was chosen by Scotrail in Scotland. What to “change the situation” for rail communications ensures Elon Musk’s company.
Beyond the passenger services, Clararus Networks, resellers for the Starlink offer, it emphasizes that this offer will also improve trains by providing precise real -time data for diagnosis and remote monitoring.
Above all, Starlink can trust a constellation of 7,500 satellites in low orbit, against 600 for Oneweb.
The question is whether the SNCF group will give Eutelsat an advantage for technological sovereign issues. But nothing is less safe: in a call for tenders in 2021, he trusted the accommodation of his servers to Amazon web services, discarding the proposal of French OVH, exciting when passing a small controversy.
No national preference
In any case, the integration of this technology within TGV should be good news for travelers. It should be remembered that high speed implies strong connectivity limitations. In addition to the obligation to guarantee a good service at 300 km/h, the TGV recorder acts as a Faladet cage, which has the effect of blocking electromagnetic fields. But it will be necessary to technically validate this approach and approve the team, which will not be an easy task.
For its part, the satellite solution has made significant progress. Historical Satellite Mobile Internet services went through geostationary orbit machines, more than 35,000 km above sea level. But their distance means that they cannot achieve the performance of a very high speed connection, due in particular to the period between the order and the execution of the application.
The satellites in Starlink and Oneweb, on the other hand, evolve in low terrestrial orbit around the earth, a few hundred kilometers of altitude. Smaller and much more cheaper, allow low latency communications, that is, with a reduced transmission time and, therefore, faster.
Questioned by us, the SNCF has not yet returned our requests for details.
Source: BFM TV
