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Ontario Northland/Northern Ontario Transportation

Northern Light said:
Confusing, I know, the 'Newmarket Sub' of CN is the route from Washago north.

It used to be connected to the track in Barrie which is, in turn, now, GO's Newmarket (Barrie) sub.

When the route was severed into two, CN retained the name 'Newmarket' on its tracks up to North Bay.

Map:

View attachment 519017

The little line in the bottom left corner is Bala, which is the link you're thinking of, except it runs beyond Washago into Sudbury; where Newmarket goes straight up from Bala.Washago
Click to expand...
FIFY ;)

When the CN Newmarket sub was intact, it and the CN Bala sub crossed (essentially converged then diverged) at Washago. So Northlander will travel on the Bala sub then diverge onto the Newmarket sub.
 
Wonder who the wifi provider is. Elmo has done a lot to annoy people the last few years but Starlink is probably the best option available for decent service at that latitude, no?
 
dowlingm said:
Wonder who the wifi provider is. Elmo has done a lot to annoy people the last few years but Starlink is probably the best option available for decent service at that latitude, no?
Click to expand...
If only there was a communications company that was owned by the ONR.....
 
dowlingm said:
Wonder who the wifi provider is. Elmo has done a lot to annoy people the last few years but Starlink is probably the best option available for decent service at that latitude, no?
Click to expand...

ViaSat is also a viable option with 150Mbit service for moving dishes.
 
rbt said:
ViaSat is also a viable option with 150Mbit service for moving dishes.
Click to expand...
ViaSat uses satellites in geostationary orbit - almost 36,000km above the equator, so about 125ms from dish to satellite alone, before you add downlink and on train wifi latency. They are clearly aware of the more responsive LEO (Starlink) and MEO options to the point where they have a web page about it to try and soften the issues, and built a browser with features to https://news.viasat.com/blog/satellite-internet/satellite-internet-latency-whats-the-big-deal

If you are passing the time on the train with video/music streaming, they are probably right that it is usable. For work, especially browsing, VOIP, or VPN? No.
 
dowlingm said:
ViaSat uses satellites in geostationary orbit - almost 36,000km above the equator, so about 125ms from dish to satellite alone, before you add downlink and on train wifi latency. They are clearly aware of the more responsive LEO (Starlink) and MEO options to the point where they have a web page about it to try and soften the issues, and built a browser with features to https://news.viasat.com/blog/satellite-internet/satellite-internet-latency-whats-the-big-deal

If you are passing the time on the train with video/music streaming, they are probably right that it is usable. For work, especially browsing, VOIP, or VPN? No.
Click to expand...

Latency isn't low enough for real-time gaming but it could still be far better than doing remote work from Auckland for a company based in New York (as far as VPN/VOIP delays go); so doable as I've done that many times.

Starlinks cheapest plans are worse than ViaSats most expensive ones, and vice-versa. What you can do with it will depend on whether they pay for priority status as both networks are heavily oversubscribed.

Icomera, the company installing the Polar Bear WIFI kits, also built GOs system which I find unusable for anything but email and messaging apps.
 
Last edited:
dowlingm said:
Wonder who the wifi provider is. Elmo has done a lot to annoy people the last few years but Starlink is probably the best option available for decent service at that latitude, no?
Click to expand...
I have been told it is Starlink. Who is providing the onboard wifi network is unknown.

Back in Ontera days, there was a plan to install transmit/receive points along the ROW. There is grid power to Moosonee that parallels much of the line.
 
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