Wifi on board

[Intermodal]

Evening all,

I was wondering if anyone actually purchases this? A number of operators are reasonable and provide a free wifi service on board (which I believe in 2017 should be the standard - the same for hotels, buses, and coffee shops). However, a number of operators continue to charge outrageous rates for their wifi service, some not even providing a sensible range of choices - for example a minimum of a 24 hour purchase! My train journey lasts at most three hours, unless I am literally going the length of the country - and while it should certainly be free, if you are going to charge, at least provide an hourly option like CrossCountry!

There are other issues as well, such as the fact that coverage is spotty on a majority of lines, and this is not always clear to the consumer. I think if one pays for wifi, they should expect it to work for the entire duration of their journey. If it is free, this is much more forgivable. I am well aware that there are coverage issues that are outside of the TOCs control - but I don't care - I think it is entirely appropriate to expect it to work the whole time if I paid for it.

Some operators even pick and choose what websites you can access - Virgin Trains WC for example will not allow you to access any streaming websites. Admittedly, this is more reasonable than the rest of my gripes. Then we have the ridiculousness of Virgin Trains EC providing wifi for free to customers who book via their website, instead of valuing all customers who use their services - and spitting in the faces of those who buy more expensive anytime or off-peak tickets on the day. I am not trying to pick on Virgin - it is simply that most of my experience is on the ECML and WCML.

If you use internet on the train with any regularity, like myself, surely it is going to save you money to simply incorporate this into your phone contract with a tethering option, or to buy a 3G dongle/router. If you do not use it regularly, then why would you feel the need to pay out money to avoid being without internet for mere hours? It seems to me like there is no market for this product anymore - but please prove me wrong!

Andrew

 

[1e10]

I’d rather the TOCs simply fitted equipment to relay mobile signals into the carriages, such as Virgin once had fitted on their fleet.

 

[Marklund]

If you use internet on the train with any regularity, like myself, surely it is going to save you money to simply incorporate this into your phone contract with a tethering option, or to buy a 3G dongle/router. If you do not use it regularly, then why would you feel the need to pay out money to avoid being without internet for mere hours? It seems to me like there is no market for this product anymore - but please prove me wrong!

That's the route I take, and large data streaming contracts aren't that expensive now.
Not everyone can afford that, so a basic free wi-fi service fitted to trains for low bandwidth consumption to me seems reasonable.
Virgin's paid service? That's extracting the urine.

 

[Clip]

There are vast swathes of the country where it's hard to get a data signal on your phone including some blacks spots for me in London and I pay for that and I don't care as I understand that not everywhere right now can have blanket coverage so I cut them a little slack

 

[Far north 37]

I always found the wifi on london midland excellent

 

[Bletchleyite]

I always found the wifi on london midland excellent

I agree, much better than the not fit for purpose paid VT service.

 

[xotGD]

I have found the new Wifi on TPE to be reliable. It tends to be a bit hit-and-miss on northern's 333s.

 

[johntea]

Give up after a couple of minutes due to the huge amount of content that is blocked! Might as well be on my 4G data which is up to 30GB allowance now anyway.

 

[Optimo]

I've purchased it a couple of times of VTWC and have found it unreliable and just a pain to use - constantly being booted off the network and having to re-enter credentials. There seem to be long stretches of the WC route with poor satellite signal (I'm assuming that's what they're using), so if you can get 3G on your phone, you're as well using that for browsing.

Fair plat to Virgin Trains for the Beam service on mobile devices, which does help pass the time...

 

[westv]

Fair plat to Virgin Trains for the Beam service on mobile devices, which does help pass the time...

Pity it doesn't work on Kindles though

 

[AlterEgo]

There are vast swathes of the country where it's hard to get a data signal on your phone including some blacks spots for me in London and I pay for that and I don't care as I understand that not everywhere right now can have blanket coverage so I cut them a little slack

How much are you paying per MB/GB of data and how does that compare with the value you’d get from a paid daily or hourly pass on a train?

 

[dvboy]

I've purchased it a couple of times of VTWC and have found it unreliable and just a pain to use - constantly being booted off the network and having to re-enter credentials. There seem to be long stretches of the WC route with poor satellite signal (I'm assuming that's what they're using), so if you can get 3G on your phone, you're as well using that for browsing.

Fair plat to Virgin Trains for the Beam service on mobile devices, which does help pass the time...

Get the Virgin Red app and get a free wifi code from there every time.

 

[HowardGWR]

We've had these threads several times IIRC. All the traveller needs (as opposed to wants) is an internet function that is simple look up of info and news and not much else. If you are on a train for two or three hours, you just need to be able to email, or send an updated report through to a boss or colleague. You don't need to be able to stream films, football matches, porn, or anything like that.

Thus I don't get the need for all this gigabyte stuff. I wish someone could give a typical example of what they are thinking of, instead of techno talk.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Pity it doesn't work on Kindles though

Son-of-LM has a better service than that as it works in a browser.

 

[Bletchleyite]

We've had these threads several times IIRC. All the traveller needs (as opposed to wants) is an internet function that is simple look up of info and news and not much else. If you are on a train for two or three hours, you just need to be able to email, or send an updated report through to a boss or colleague. You don't need to be able to stream films, football matches, porn, or anything like that.

Thus I don't get the need for all this gigabyte stuff. I wish someone could give a typical example of what they are thinking of, instead of techno talk.

I want to be able to do my job fully, which I can on ex-LM (free of charge) and can't on VT unless I use my own data (paid) as the cap is way too low. That does include downloads etc.

Blocking porn and similar is a good idea, as people should not be accessing it in public. But that's not the same as blocking VPNs or having unrealistically low bandwidth limits.

 

[E_Reeves]

I agree, much better than the not fit for purpose paid VT service.

I never had to pay for VT. Just connect to first class WiFi and you don't need to sign in

 

[sheff1]

All the traveller needs (as opposed to wants) is an internet function that is simple look up of info and news and not much else. If you are on a train for two or three hours, you just need to be able to email, or send an updated report through to a boss or colleague.

I don't "need" any internet access on a train. If I did, I would seriously wonder how I ever managed to travel up and down the country for decades when (publicly available) internet did not exist.

Of course, having internet access is useful but I have never purchased on-board access.

 

[Clip]

How much are you paying per MB/GB of data and how does that compare with the value you’d get from a paid daily or hourly pass on a train?

Thats irrelevant,I am paying for a service that doesn't work all the time

 

[AlterEgo]

Thats irrelevant,I am paying for a service that doesn't work all the time

Of course it’s relevant. You paying for a monthly roaming service, probably vastly lower cost per MB/hour/day, is different to you paying a train company much more money to access wifi specifically on their trains.

You would accept it as part and parcel of roaming the country that there might be some black spots (but still, there are too many of those about in 2017 and the regulator is getting antsy about it!).

What’s less acceptable is paying through the nose for WiFi in a specific scenario and finding it unusable for a significant period of time.

 

[fairysdad]

We've had these threads several times IIRC. All the traveller needs (as opposed to wants) is an internet function that is simple look up of info and news and not much else. If you are on a train for two or three hours, you just need to be able to email, or send an updated report through to a boss or colleague. You don't need to be able to stream films, football matches, porn, or anything like that.

Thus I don't get the need for all this gigabyte stuff. I wish someone could give a typical example of what they are thinking of, instead of techno talk.

The problem is that although it is a simple look up of info and news, or sending a few emails with attachments off, with the increase in data allowances ("gigabyte stuff") and the decreases in cost of storage medium, when browsing the web or using other Internet services, much more bandwidth is used than once was when people were stuck with dial-up connections.

Even a simple news website will have larger pictures, an embedded video which will automatically stream; a MS Word document now will be larger than its counterpart from the early 2000s. Most devices will detect that its on a WiFi network and thus decide that it is able to stream or download the higher quality images etc, whereas a tablet or phone will not request these from the server (if the remote server is properly configured anyway!) if it detects that it's on a 4G connection rather than WiFi.

 

[Accura]

I agree with the sentiment on here about LM. Although the journey takes longer, I purposely travelled to work with LM between Rugby and London rather than Virgin, as the reliable (and free) Wi-Fi service meant I could have a more productive day. Hopefully the new franchise holder won't introduce charges... I don't know if it's just a coincidence (bad weather, peak season etc), but the service I've experienced has been notably poorer since Abellio have taken over.

 

[superalbs]

I agree with the sentiment on here about LM. Although the journey takes longer, I purposely travelled to work with LM between Rugby and London rather than Virgin, as the reliable (and free) Wi-Fi service meant I could have a more productive day. Hopefully the new franchise holder won't introduce charges... I don't know if it's just a coincidence (bad weather, peak season etc), but the service I've experienced has been notably poorer since Abellio have taken over.

I think all new franchises require free-wifi on all trains, do they not? I think that is why XC are *finally* dropping charges, in April, as part of their extension!
(Might make me actually travel with them, rather than avoiding them like the plague.)

 

[paulcleaver]

I've never found it works on XC or EMT trains, so I dont bother now.

 

[bb21]

WiFi on EM are probably the most reliable of all operators ime.

 

[NotATrainspott]

Evening all,

I was wondering if anyone actually purchases this? A number of operators are reasonable and provide a free wifi service on board (which I believe in 2017 should be the standard - the same for hotels, buses, and coffee shops). However, a number of operators continue to charge outrageous rates for their wifi service, some not even providing a sensible range of choices - for example a minimum of a 24 hour purchase! My train journey lasts at most three hours, unless I am literally going the length of the country - and while it should certainly be free, if you are going to charge, at least provide an hourly option like CrossCountry!

There are other issues as well, such as the fact that coverage is spotty on a majority of lines, and this is not always clear to the consumer. I think if one pays for wifi, they should expect it to work for the entire duration of their journey. If it is free, this is much more forgivable. I am well aware that there are coverage issues that are outside of the TOCs control - but I don't care - I think it is entirely appropriate to expect it to work the whole time if I paid for it.

Some operators even pick and choose what websites you can access - Virgin Trains WC for example will not allow you to access any streaming websites. Admittedly, this is more reasonable than the rest of my gripes. Then we have the ridiculousness of Virgin Trains EC providing wifi for free to customers who book via their website, instead of valuing all customers who use their services - and spitting in the faces of those who buy more expensive anytime or off-peak tickets on the day. I am not trying to pick on Virgin - it is simply that most of my experience is on the ECML and WCML.

If you use internet on the train with any regularity, like myself, surely it is going to save you money to simply incorporate this into your phone contract with a tethering option, or to buy a 3G dongle/router. If you do not use it regularly, then why would you feel the need to pay out money to avoid being without internet for mere hours? It seems to me like there is no market for this product anymore - but please prove me wrong!

Andrew

Virgin Trains West and East Coast have some of the earliest WiFi installations on trains. Since the kit is older, it is much worse than the state of the art. It was designed for a time when a few first class passengers might be checking their emails. If they made it free, it would overload the system and make it unusable for everyone. Not restricting streaming websites would cause a similar problem.

 

[jon0844]

Virgin Trains West and East Coast have some of the earliest WiFi installations on trains. Since the kit is older, it is much worse than the state of the art. It was designed for a time when a few first class passengers might be checking their emails. If they made it free, it would overload the system and make it unusable for everyone. Not restricting streaming websites would cause a similar problem.

Didn't either West or East Coast upgrade their hardware fairly recently? It's from Icomera, at least on VTEC, which is the same as the systems used by GTR and others.

 

[infobleep]

There are vast swathes of the country where it's hard to get a data signal on your phone including some blacks spots for me in London and I pay for that and I don't care as I understand that not everywhere right now can have blanket coverage so I cut them a little slack

I paid a for WiFi on Cross Country once from Guildford to Birmingham and a return journey in the evening.

It kept cutting out and was basically unusable so I got a refund. I would cut them some slack but I just found it too unusable. Paying to do nothing is not that great.

 

[infobleep]

I think all new franchises require free-wifi on all trains, do they not? I think that is why XC are *finally* dropping charges, in April, as part of their extension!
(Might make me actually travel with them, rather than avoiding them like the plague.)

Will the loss of income be costed into their agreement with the DfT?

 

[infobleep]

At what point will Cross Country stop selling their 'great value' WiFi packages. I noticed there was a 50 hours that allows broken usage across 1 year. I wonder if it will be able for sale the day before they switch to the service being free?


I was only on the train for 25 minutes so opted instead for Great Western Railway's WiFi instead as I was travelling with them for longer. They don't promote there's a as being great value. They just say it's free!

 

[skifans]

At what point will Cross Country stop selling their 'great value' WiFi packages. I noticed there was a 50 hours that allows broken usage across 1 year. I wonder if it will be able for sale the day before they switch to the service being free?


I was only on the train for 25 minutes so opted instead for Great Western Railway's WiFi instead as I was travelling with them for longer. They don't promote there's a as being great value. They just say it's free!

According to post #22, April