Free WiFi in Standard - Virgin West Coast

[mark-h]

Many corporate laptops are configured, for security/staff tracking reasons, not to allow any Internet access until the VPN is connected.

How do you get the sign in screen for public wifi system if the only internet access is via the VPN?

 

[Mathew S]

How do you get the sign in screen for public wifi system if the only internet access is via the VPN?

There's various ways of doing it. At my place we use a custom written Windows 10 app, but there are other ways.

 

[SHD]

With most corporate VPNs, if you are connected to the VPN your Internet access goes through there as well. Many corporate laptops are configured, for security/staff tracking reasons, not to allow any Internet access until the VPN is connected.

It sounds like yours is poorly configured.

If no Internet access at all is possible unless the VPN is connected, it may prevent the user to connect to public WiFi networks that require an authentication on a Web portal (and there are many such public WiFi networks), especially when the network logon page is hosted on the private network of the

(Edit: Sorry, had not seen previous messages)

 

[Puffing Devil]

What network? I've worked all the way from MK to Edinburgh via Birmingham using EE on my iPad (using it as a hotspot) and only got dropouts over Shap, it was spot-on for the rest. Seemed to work best with it in my bag on the overhead rack.

If you want unrestricted data, use your own phone. Then it comes down to the rolling stock, the phone you've got (antenna sensitivity etc) and where you are. But you soon work out what works best for you.

My experience using Vodafone on MiFi and a Samasung S7 and Note9 has been very poor. All devices seem to struggle to hold a signal at speed, only becoming reliable when we slow for a station. The Faraday cage of the train won't help, either. At least the train WiFi has a better, external aerial. I've also recently had to move to an Exchange email account, which seems unnaturally fussy about a constant connection.

 

[swaldman]

Can't think of any. GNER initially charged for it in standard, then made it free, only for NXEC to start charging again. It's been back to free for a long time, I think.

LNER only give you 15 minutes free in standard class.
It's arguable whether that's more or less useful than GWR's 30Mb cap...

 

[d9009alycidon]

I used Virgin West Coast to co to Crewe a few weeks ago, on business so first class, on the way down the Wi-fi was fine, no connection issues at all, on the return it was abysmal, the connection kept dropping out (trying to follow progress on Traksy too, most annoying), I mentioned it to the staff and they apologized saying that it had not been upgraded yet, seems some units have better kit fitted

 

[theironroad]

LNER only give you 15 minutes free in standard class.
It's arguable whether that's more or less useful than GWR's 30Mb cap...

Well I'm confused now, because I thought it was only 15 mins free but a few people on here are saying that's all free now......

 

[swaldman]

Well I'm confused now, because I thought it was only 15 mins free but a few people on here are saying that's all free now......

It was 15 minutes about 2 weeks ago.
(at least on the train I was on. If it's changing, I guess they might not all change at once)

 

[londonmidland]

LNER *should* now have free WiFi on all their trains. Though I don’t know the process of how long it takes to change it across the whole fleet.

It’s been free since around three weeks give or take now.

 

[BR67]

I think it is a new supplier for the free wifi. (That's what was mentioned by staff, but not 100%).

It is a new(ish) supplier - McLaren Applied Technologies.
https://twitter.com/VirginTrains/status/1059411696689782784

The DfT mandates free WiFi in its latest franchise specifications, so this change will have been agreed as part of the ICWC Direct Award extension.
http://www.mynewsdesk.com/uk/virgin...of-passengers-on-its-west-coast-route-2142595

As others have said, EMT is now unusual in still having paid for WiFi in Standard. When (or if?) the new EM franchise is awarded, that will change.

 

[FQTV]

LNER only give you 15 minutes free in standard class.
It's arguable whether that's more or less useful than GWR's 30Mb cap...

Well I'm confused now, because I thought it was only 15 mins free but a few people on here are saying that's all free now......

It was 15 minutes about 2 weeks ago.
(at least on the train I was on. If it's changing, I guess they might not all change at once)

LNER *should* now have free WiFi on all their trains. Though I don’t know the process of how long it takes to change it across the whole fleet.

It’s been free since around three weeks give or take now.

Access is completely free for all passengers in all travel classes on all LNER services operated with WiFi fitted rolling stock.

As an aside, it takes seconds to enable free access when it has hitherto been a paid service.

Indeed, it was normal procedure to disable the paywall on specific services subject to disruption, as a concession to affected passengers.

 

[ATW Alex 101]

I still remember the days when Coach D on the Super-Voyagers were configured to the first-class WiFi... But after the refurbs around 2015-2016 they got shut of that, so free WiFi for all, especially in this day and age, is very welcome news to me.

 

[Mathew S]

I still remember the days when Coach D on the Super-Voyagers were configured to the first-class WiFi... But after the refurbs around 2015-2016 they got shut of that, so free WiFi for all, especially in this day and age, is very welcome news to me.

The email I had said free WiFi on Pendolinos, and the full Beam offering on Voyagers. My reading of that was that the WiFi on Voyagers would still be chargeable.

 

[Bletchleyite]

If no Internet access at all is possible unless the VPN is connected, it may prevent the user to connect to public WiFi networks that require an authentication on a Web portal (and there are many such public WiFi networks), especially when the network logon page is hosted on the private network of the

(Edit: Sorry, had not seen previous messages)

There are ways, as someone else also said, to allow access to only the sign-in page unless connected.

 

[Blinkbonny]

Is it just me, but since the advent of free Wi-Fi on Virgin is it proving impossible to get a service at all?

Last half-dozen journeys for me have resulted in absolutely nothing in either standard or first class.

No point in having free Wi-Fi if nobody can access it.

 

[paddington]

I took about 10 different VTWC trains in April. Out of these, I received a good wifi service on one train. On the others, my device couldn't even connect, much less get to a sign-in page.

I was very pleased with the free wifi on XC and WMT - it made standing on the packed XC trains a bit more bearable. The sign-in page for WMT is annoying, but at least it accepts the shortest possible email ([email protected])

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Couldn't connect to VT free wifi yesterday out of Liverpool.
Connects to wifi but can't load even the BBC web site.
What is even more galling is the repeated fawning announcement of how great it is.

 

[Howard70]

Couldn't connect to VT free wifi yesterday out of Liverpool.
Connects to wifi but can't load even the BBC web site.
What is even more galling is the repeated fawning announcement of how great it is.

Probably because a load of passengers in standard have just started sharing all the bandwidth on the backhaul

 

[jon0844]

It was always going to happen. There's only limited bandwidth and now more people are using it.

What's more, people who use VPNs are able to access services that are meant to be restricted, putting a further drain on limited resources.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It was always going to happen. There's only limited bandwidth and now more people are using it.

What's more, people who use VPNs are able to access services that are meant to be restricted, putting a further drain on limited resources.

It doesn't seem to be a problem on other TOCs. So have VT failed to put the required infrastructure in place?

 

[Puffing Devil]

It was always going to happen. There's only limited bandwidth and now more people are using it.

What's more, people who use VPNs are able to access services that are meant to be restricted, putting a further drain on limited resources.

Virgin seem to have blocked by my company and private VPN.

The service is poor though - however getting any sort of signal into a train filled with electrical noise and rattling through the countryside at 125mph is a feat in itself.

 

[3rd rail land]

I traveled on 2 VTWC Voyagers in April and I gave up on the WiFi in standard. It repeatedly failed to connect. Seems like I am not the only one with this issue.

In the end I just used 4G. The coverage was very good and I always have plenty of spare data so no chance of hitting my cap.

As others have said its is never going to be much good if you give more people free access to WiFi but don't improve the bandwidth sufficiently to handle the increased user base.

Ultimately Virgin won't lose any revenue over this and it meets what I presume is a franchise commitment. If you need to go from A to B and VTWC operates the route connecting those 2 stations you can't exactly boycott them in favour of another toc. Perhaps by offering poor WiFi in standard they hope people will opt for 1st class with better connectivity? Or is it the same WiFi shared across the entire train?

 

[jon0844]

It doesn't seem to be a problem on other TOCs. So have VT failed to put the required infrastructure in place?

There's only so much they can do. They already use multiple SIMs but I assume to add more capacity would require more hardware. Plus the data SIMs aren't free.

Plus you're more likely getting business users and tourists and the like wanting Wi-Fi on an Intercity service than use Wi-Fi on a suburban commuter route.

 

[paddington]

Perhaps by offering poor WiFi in standard they hope people will opt for 1st class with better connectivity? Or is it the same WiFi shared across the entire train?

Even when it was not free for all in Std and I was in 1st, the wifi experience was variable - mabye a third of the time it worked great, mostly it was slow but usable, and sometimes it was just turned off and the train managers would simply say they tried but couldn't get it restarted

 

[whhistle]

Certainly doesn't make [East Midlands Trains] an attractive option for journeys

Most people don't really have any other option.

Admittedly there are some stations (like Sheffield) that you could travel to another and use another operator for London, but I seriously can't see "the droves" doing that when there's a direct service.

 

[whhistle]

I'd say wifi on the move is slowly on the way out.
Nobody wants to sort out some sort of reliable fast system, so we're left with different experiences all over the shop. All this at a time where data is king on mobile contracts - my contract is 34Gb for £15 a month. I'll never use more than about 5Gb a month, much less on average.

Just like Fibre internet.
The cost of putting it in is expensive (BT fibre doesn't really count), so in the end it'll be long range wifi / mobile networks that'll replace a physical line into the house.

 

[benbristow]

Maybe it's improved. The cap they told me about - you get 50MB (yes MB), after which it's HTTP(S) only.

Can you not run the VPN through port 443 (same as HTTPS)? Should get around it.

 

[Mathew S]

Can you not run the VPN through port 443 (same as HTTPS)? Should get around it.

Psiphon, while not a true VPN, will usually find its way through any restrictions on free WiFi. Then, if you need a different/corporate VPN, you can connect that over the top.

 

[tasky]

East Midlands Trains only now then it seems.

Certainly doesn't make them an attractive option for journeys

It's now government policy that all new franchises have to offer free basic wifi to all passengers, so that should change when the franchise changes

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/free-wi-fi-to-help-rail-commuters-stay-connected

Rail passengers will benefit from free wi-fi on trains across England and Wales from 2017, Rail Minister Claire Perry announced today (11 February 2015).

Train operators are being asked to set how they will meet the commitment to provide this important service for passengers. All train operators bidding for new franchises and direct award agreements will have to include this specification in their bid.

Where there is no new franchise agreement due in the next 2 years, almost £50 million of funding will be released from the Department for Transport to ensure wi-fi is available on selected services from 2017.

Though there was some clarification, and apparently it only needs to be 1Mbps, which is very slow

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...twork-fast-cheap-wi-fi-trains-internet-access

However, Matt Hancock, the digital policy minister, revealed in a parliamentary debate that the minimum speed required on those bids was 1 megabit per second (Mbps) per passenger, “which allows for basic web browsing, basic email and social media activity”.

This speed means a video would take hours to download and even just opening an email with an attachment would be a lengthy process. This is about a decade out of date for business travellers, even though the government wanted free Wi-Fi to enable commuters “to keep up with work”.

Hancock said this minimum requirement would be increased by 25% a year and franchise bidders were already exceeding this threshold. For example, Abellio will provide up to 100 Mbps per passenger by 2019 on the East Anglia franchise.