On train Wi-Fi

[Harlesden]

Is the facility on VTEC any better than the rather unreliable Wi-Fi on EMT?
Is it worth the £9.95 for 24 hours. I assume 24 hours pertains to 24 hours of actual use rather than simply 24 hours from the moment of first use.

 

[ScottishIain]

You assume wrong, I believe it's for 24 hours from activation.

 

[EssexGonzo]

My own experience of any train's wifi is that if you have enough data allowance on your mobile - use that instead. Either directly on the phone or to tether your laptop/tablet.

It seems far more reliable and almost always faster than the train's service.

 

[Clip]

Buy a data booster from your provider - its probably cheaper and better.

 

[Crossover]

The ECML is a bit hit and miss on data signal. I have to say, the only trains I have been satisfied with the WiFi access is XC. Paid for it in Standard a few times when travelling with work and it maintained a steady VPN connection for over an hour at a time between Wakefield and Cheltenham on a VPN client that has a hissy fit at the first sign of instability in the connection. Only tunnels fazed it really. More than could be said for the mobile which had a data connection that fluctuated like a sine wave!

 

[DaveNewcastle]

The quality of service on VTEC varies greatly between places on the journey (in some of the more barren areas of Lincolnshire and Northumberland it can be very poor) , and between different passenger demands (in the busy morning commuter times or the busy weekend entertainment times it can be very heavily loaded). At other times it's great: faster and more persistent than my phone or Vodaphone dongle.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Buy a data booster from your provider - its probably cheaper and better.

Depends which provider, I find O2 has poor on train coverage but EE very good.

 

[Clip]

Depends which provider, I find O2 has poor on train coverage but EE very good.

I've no idea of other providers as I use EE and always works fine. Mind you I don't venture much further than Newcastle so I cant comment on it further north as I normally look out the window listening to the missus' incessant chattering. On and on and on and on...:cry:

 

[talldave]

I've no idea of other providers as I use EE and always works fine. Mind you I don't venture much further than Newcastle so I cant comment on it further north as I normally look out the window listening to the missus' incessant chattering. On and on and on and on...:cry:

We're talking Wi-Fi, not wifey

 

[westv]

My 3 dongle does me from London to Hull. Wouldn't waste my money on the VTEC wifi.
Hull Trains free wifi does me from Hull to London.

 

[47271]

If it's free I might go on in spots where I know that Vodafone coverage is poor but I'd never pay for train wifi.

The big advantage of a dongle is that you can watch connection speed and organise your work accordingly. Speed is generally best in built up areas and when the train's moving more slowly.

 

[Harlesden]

No laptop. At least not on the journey. Only an iPhone 5.

 

[47271]

No laptop. At least not on the journey. Only an iPhone 5.

Hmm. Which part of the route are you going on, if it's north of Newcastle I definitely wouldn't bother?

If you really need to be online and your data allowance doesn't cover it then I suppose you'll just have to fork out the £10, but I doubt if you'll be that excited by what you get.

 

[najaB]

If you really need to be online and your data allowance doesn't cover it then I suppose you'll just have to fork out the £10, but I doubt if you'll be that excited by what you get.

When I was with Three I always found their coverage to be pretty good from London to Darlington, a little hit and miss through to Newcastle and then good again until the section north of Alnmouth and south of Dunbar.

Get hold of a Mi-Fi or similar device and a PAYG SIM card - £2.99 for 500MB of data (at least that was the old price) valid for two days, much better value for money than GR's Wi-Fi offering in my experience.

 

[johntea]

On some services I find you can connect your phone whilst stood close to First Class to join the 'free' signal then it will maintain the free session even back at your seat in Standard.

Doesn't work on some TOCs though who bounce you back onto the paid portal!

The mobile data probably works best anyway as even when the WiFi becomes free as standard it means there will be a huge load on it. I find the Virgin media on the London Underground pretty decent although by the time it manages to relink you up to the WiFi signal at each station your tube is off again

 

[Train man]

Better if Wifi was free for everyone on Virgin EC/WC. In My Opinion just get rid of the internet prices in standard.

 

[47271]

As it happens, and if it helps the decision, I'm presently writing this on a busy Scotrail train (a Turbostar) moving at low to medium speed in an area with good 4G coverage. I've just gone on the free wifi, which has informed that I'm one of 30 enjoying the service.

I'd estimate that my wifi connection is running at one third to one quarter of the speed of going direct to the mobile network.

 

[168lover]

I find the WiFi on 168/0s, /1s, and 2s very good. The new /3s on the other hand, practically none excistant.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The free Northern WiFi (on West Yorkshire electrics) can vary wildly from unit to unit, though possibly due to how many others are using it. I will however as a proud Yorkshireman NEVER pay for on train WiFi!

 

[D1009]

I've used the GWR free wifi and find it very slow compared to my 3 dongle, but the wifi works in areas the dongle loses its signal. On XC the dongle doesn't work much on the voyagers, another reason I travel on their HSTs wherever possible, and I definitely would not pay for wifi.

 

[jon0844]

Some phones have pretty weak Wi-Fi antennas, so that's another thing to throw into the mix that can result in phones and tablets getting pretty poor speeds and very high latency. Oh and where you sit in relation to the access point, how many other people are using it etc.

It's a minefield.

My current phone has 802.11ac and can connect at upto 866Mbps, although that doesn't mean the equipment I'm connecting to can!

Personally, I favour using my own data connection. As said by others, Three and EE are way out in front for mobile data (and the required backhaul) but Vodafone and O2 are catching up and in some places may match or potentially beat EE/Three.

A portable hotspot is a good idea as you can position it by a window and leave it there, but few operate at 5GHz which I'd consider a must these days. Huawei do one but it's much more expensive - but worth it in my opinion. 802.11ac and 300Mbps 4G support, so it's fairly well future proofed. Yes, EE is testing 600Mbps 4G currently but there's still a 150Mbps cap in place for all non business tariffs.

 

[anme]

A portable hotspot is a good idea as you can position it by a window and leave it there, but few operate at 5GHz which I'd consider a must these days. Huawei do one but it's much more expensive - but worth it in my opinion. 802.11ac and 300Mbps 4G support, so it's fairly well future proofed. Yes, EE is testing 600Mbps 4G currently but there's still a 150Mbps cap in place for all non business tariffs.

Just out of curiosity - in what situation would you require more than 150Mbps while on a train? That's enough for 15-30 simultaneous HD video streams, which even if you're good at multitasking is likely to be sufficient for most travel situations.

 

[najaB]

...but few operate at 5GHz which I'd consider a must these days.

Unless you're doing device to device data transfers, I can't see any benefit to 5Ghz while you're out and about.

Yes, EE is testing 600Mbps 4G currently but there's still a 150Mbps cap in place for all non business tariffs.

For an individual's mobile data purposes I can't see need for anything over 150Mb/s. In a few years when we're all using 3-D holographic video comms, but today or tomorrow? Not so much.

 

[fishquinn]

I find the WiFi on 168/0s, /1s, and 2s very good. The new /3s on the other hand, practically none excistant.

I find the free wifi on the 68s very good too but only on the MK3s and 168s, which is why the /3s have very poor wifi. The 165s and 172s don't have any (I think) and the 170s, as said, have very poor wifi.

 

[jon0844]

Unless you're doing device to device data transfers, I can't see any benefit to 5Ghz while you're out and about.
For an individual's mobile data purposes I can't see need for anything over 150Mb/s. In a few years when we're all using 3-D holographic video comms, but today or tomorrow? Not so much.

5GHz seems far more resilient.

And as for speeds, if you're streaming or surfing then speed isn't much of an issue. However, there are benefits for anyone working where lower latency improves working online, and higher speeds makes a difference if you're wishing to download or upload files. Not only to improve productivity but also mean less chance of hitting a tunnel part way through!

The battery will also likely benefit. If you can download a file in a few seconds instead of a few minutes, there's a reduction in consumption there too.

 

[Goldfish62]

The WiFi on SWT 444 and 450s is generally poor and unreliable. However, as it's free and not a franchise commitment I'm not really complaining.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Thatll be because its also accessed by staff so a blanket ban on sites like travel will stop them from trying to book a holiday or something when they should be working - common company policy across lots of companies.

Is it just me who thinks that applying a staff internet usage policy to a company's customers as well is a little strange?

Where I work our access to certain sites is blocked, but the Guest WiFi allows free website access to our customers as it's not our business what they look at.