"The distance between a passenger"s device and the onboard mobile router is very short, so therefore is much less taxing on battery power," Hassan said.

"If other services were used, the passenger devices would need more power to connect to a distant wireless base station outside the bus or train, and this would deplete the battery much quicker."

Low cost is another advantage, Hassan said.

"If all buses and trains cooperate in relaying data to each other, the cost of communication can be very low compared to other wireless services, so that the bus company could even provide a free, online service to its passengers," he said.

He admitted that the wireless service providers may not like this idea.

iBurst spokesperson John Filmer does not see this protocol as potential competition.