Wifi on board

[HowardGWR]

"Even a simple news website will have larger pictures, an embedded video which will automatically stream"

If they only knew how irritating that is. I have tried all the advised methods of stopping that happening, but to no avail. I have to rush to the cancel clock before it gets to midnight! I always keep the earphone device plugged in (without the earphones in my ears) so that at least i don't have to listen to the banalities if I fail.

What's relevant is that I suppose the unwanted videos count towards one's total usage.

 

[infobleep]

According to post #22, April

If they stop the 50 hours offer in April then people will be paying to use something that is free. Unless of course they travel for 50 hours in April. Might be possible if your a commuter.

 

[Jos Creese]

The worst across the UK I’ve found on every count is Cross Country (and Virgin): not free, complex purchase, captures unnecessary personal data, requires 15-char code & takes over 10 mins & a pen- and then won’t support Wi-fi calling. It is so business-unfriendly (I’ve just had to cancel an online business call).

Southeastern Rail is best - fast, one click access.

 

[MikeWM]

XC wasn't any different last time I looked to see if it had changed (probably about a week ago) - still charging. Anyone have an update when this is going to go free?

 

[Jos Creese]

Guess- it won’t until the rail franchise is up for renewal

 

[al78]

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.

People managed in the past because if the facility doesn't exist, managers don't expect their traveling workforce to use it. Now it exists, the manager piles more work onto their employee which effectively forces the employee to work on the move to get their work done to their deadline.

Comparing things to the past doesn't work a lot of the time. We've moved on, and things change.

 

[LordCreed]

I've used WiFi on a number of companies, and some are good others not so:

GWR: Terrible on HSTs, ok on 150s/158s and pretty good on IETs.
XC: Found both First and Standard WiFi to be more than useable. Have no issues connecting my laptop to the virtual machine.
VTWC: WiFi is ok, drops out a lot though. I always use a Virgin Red code instead of paying.
VTWC: Large areas with little WiFi. I pay under £1 per code, thanks to a nice little trick .
SWR: The WiFi on the 158s is pretty good, although apps on my phone don't tend to work (no WhatsApp or Snapchat etc...)

 

[jon0844]

The worst across the UK I’ve found on every count is Cross Country (and Virgin): not free, complex purchase, captures unnecessary personal data, requires 15-char code & takes over 10 mins & a pen- and then won’t support Wi-fi calling. It is so business-unfriendly (I’ve just had to cancel an online business call).

Southeastern Rail is best - fast, one click access.

GTR now have a very quick system and on Gatwick Express offer games, music and eBooks/audio books.

Their attempt to block things like YouTube does sadly seem to block many other Google services, including Photos and Drive.

 

[infobleep]

GTR now have a very quick system and on Gatwick Express offer games, music and eBooks/audio books.

Their attempt to block things like YouTube does sadly seem to block many other Google services, including Photos and Drive.

Perhaps that is their intention. As in to block photos and drive.

 

[infobleep]

XC wasn't any different last time I looked to see if it had changed (probably about a week ago) - still charging. Anyone have an update when this is going to go free?

I had thought they were meant to be going free as part of their new franchise agreement.

 

[IainG81]

Think I'm quite spoiled by GWR it's free and easy to connect and usually works on the 387's.

Cross Country is pretty poor and you have to pay for it.

Chiltern Railways seemed a bit on and off sometimes it's good other times not working so well. But free to use. Those are the three companies I'm most familiar with

 

[thenorthern]

I have never purchased wifi on board, I tend to find my Isle of Man registered phone is better as connects any network available rather than a single network and thus will be more stable than wifi will ever be.

I have known quite a few people who travel for work to purchase WiFi on trains particularly people who need to be connected at all times such as journalists. With people traveling for work however train WiFi is put down as expenses that is put onto their company issued American Express card so the worker isn't having to pay for it.

 

[EnRoute]

WiFi is something a lot of rail services need to provide to their customers. It is 2018.

 

[Dougal2345]

As I said on another thread here recently, I feel that on-train wi-fi should offer travel information (nationalrail.co.uk) without needing to register and log in to the particular TOC's system.

If I'm travelling by a TOC that I don't normally use and want to know whether my next connection's on time, I don't want to have to faff about registering. Maybe the Dft should mandate this.

 

[infobleep]

It will ve interesting to see if London North Eastern Railway will offer free WiFi or will they continue to charge. I don't mean as soon as they start but in time.

 

[sheff1]

WiFi is something a lot of rail services need to provide to their customers. It is 2018.

Interesting that when onboard catering (especially restaurants) is discussed people queue up to say the purpose of a train is to get you from A-B, not provide catering. Yet when sentiments such as the above are expressed similar comments are not made.

People who "need" WiFi are surely going to make their own arrangements - some on here report they carry multiple devices with access to multiple networks which is rather easier to do than cook your own meals on a train !

 

[jon0844]

Perhaps that is their intention. As in to block photos and drive.

Perhaps. But if you start blocking loads of services beyond what appeared to be quite a controlled list (video/music streaming), you reduce the usefulness a lot. They already implement throttling to give everyone a chance of a reasonable data rate. You wouldn't likely sync gigabytes of data on Drive as it would be ridiculously slow anyway.

 

[jon0844]

Interesting that when onboard catering (especially restaurants) is discussed people queue up to say the purpose of a train is to get you from A-B, not provide catering. Yet when sentiments such as the above are expressed similar comments are not made.

People who "need" WiFi are surely going to make their own arrangements - some on here report they carry multiple devices with access to multiple networks which is rather easier to do than cook your own meals on a train !

If there's a power socket, bring a microwave!

If trains were designed to offer a better phone reception then you likely wouldn't need Wi-Fi. I won't be getting 100+ Mbps from train Wi-Fi, but I can on my phone. Sure, there are dead spots but when I have data, chances are it's pretty decent.

Wi-Fi does offer things like the train-hosted servers for video/music/e-books which is good. It also allows you to see where you are, timetable information and connection information that is relevant to your particular train/journey. That said, if someone closes the 'welcome' page they lose it and probably have no way to find it again unless disconnecting and reconnecting (and that may not work, as it may keep you connected for a long period of time anyway).

Now Wi-Fi seems better with the latest equipment and access points, I have to say I am using Wi-Fi more. Even though I have ample data on multiple SIMs, why not use someone else's allowance if I don't need loads of bandwidth?

 

[superalbs]

I had thought they were meant to be going free as part of their new franchise agreement.

Yeah...April 2018. :/ :/ :/

 

[infobleep]

If there's a power socket, bring a microwave!

If trains were designed to offer a better phone reception then you likely wouldn't need Wi-Fi. I won't be getting 100+ Mbps from train Wi-Fi, but I can on my phone. Sure, there are dead spots but when I have data, chances are it's pretty decent.

Wi-Fi does offer things like the train-hosted servers for video/music/e-books which is good. It also allows you to see where you are, timetable information and connection information that is relevant to your particular train/journey. That said, if someone closes the 'welcome' page they lose it and probably have no way to find it again unless disconnecting and reconnecting (and that may not work, as it may keep you connected for a long period of time anyway).

Now Wi-Fi seems better with the latest equipment and access points, I have to say I am using Wi-Fi more. Even though I have ample data on multiple SIMs, why not use someone else's allowance if I don't need loads of bandwidth?

The problem I find is that there are more black spots than receiption at times.

As the chasephrsse in Strike it Lucky use to go:
What's a hotspot not? A good spot.

 

[jon0844]

The problem I find is that there are more black spots than receiption at times.

As the chasephrsse in Strike it Lucky use to go:
What's a hotspot not? A good spot.

I did find reception rather variable in Norfolk (Cambridge to Norwich, then to Cromer) but with the ability to swap from EE to Vodafone (thus using different base stations [EE & Three sharing and Vodafone & O2 sharing many]) I didn't have many places with no coverage. I was admittedly on my phone pretty much the whole journey, rather than looking out the window, so I did notice the blackspots.

Wi-Fi can only be good if there's service from at least one network, given the train likely has a bank of SIMs on different networks. EE is usually the primary one, but I don't know the secondary network of choice. I'd say Vodafone would be the logical choice. EE is way ahead, and Vodafone has really caught up. Have these and you should be covered most places, and if not, chances are there's no coverage at all.

 

[ejstubbs]

There seem to be long stretches of the WC route with poor satellite signal (I'm assuming that's what they're using)

Nope, they use cellular data, same as you do when not connected to their wifi. Although, as jon0844 says above, one would expect them to use multiple SIMs on multiple networks so as to minimise the risk of extended gaps in service (as well as for bandwidth). I think the problem is that the WCML just does have a lot of stretches with no coverage from any provider. I've certainly found in the past that if VTWC wifi is 'down' then I very often won't have a cellular signal on my phone either. There are areas on the route where coverage is always going to be patchy, such as past the Lakes and northwards in to Scotland (there's plenty of not-spots on the M6/M74 as well), but even in some more urbanised areas the line runs through some deep cuttings (and tunnels, of course) which can cause temporary grey-outs in the wifi service as the on-train routers lose cellular connectivity.

 

[jon0844]

They do use multiple SIMs, or at least the Icomera equipment has the support. It isn't just for increasing the chance of coverage, but also to allow for greater overall speeds/bandwidth to share.

 

[Parallel]

The WiFi on the GWR HSTs And Turbos is awful.

The 150s/158s are more reliable though.

ATW is the most reliable. I did a trip recently to Wales and used 20+ trains and only 1 it didn’t work on.

 

[jon0844]

The WiFi on the GWR HSTs And Turbos is awful.

The 150s/158s are more reliable though.

ATW is the most reliable. I did a trip recently to Wales and used 20+ trains and only 1 it didn’t work on.

I expect Wi-Fi on some trains is using older equipment. The access points are likely a weak link, especially if they don't support 5GHz which is more efficient (and should work fine in relatively small areas).

Likewise, the radios would need to be updated to support 4G and all the bands now in use (800, 1800, 2100, 2600MHz for the most part, and also some others coming into use soon). The type of modem, and whether it supports things like 4x4 MIMO, 256QAM and carrier aggregation will also make a huge difference.

I have no idea if TOCs upgrade equipment or just keep what they got fitted first time around. I would hope that Icomera makes it easy to upgrade, but there is obviously a cost to that.

 

[BlueFox]

The last few times I've been on Virgin West Coast I couldn't connect to the wifi, even to use Beam.
Then I tried my old phone, and it worked OK.

The newer phone has had no problem connecting to any other wifi (it's worked fine on Transpennine, Northern and Scotrail trains, and Virgin Wifi in stations), so presumably there's something different about the VTWC on train wifi that's incompatible with some phones.

 

[cactustwirly]

The WiFi on the GWR HSTs And Turbos is awful.

The 150s/158s are more reliable though.

ATW is the most reliable. I did a trip recently to Wales and used 20+ trains and only 1 it didn’t work on.

I didn't think the Wi-Fi on the turbos was too bad, certainly much better than the HSTs

 

[gavin]

All LNER services will have free wifi from 5pm tonight

No prizes for guessing why

 

[jon0844]

All LNER services will have free wifi from 5pm tonight

No prizes for guessing why

Nobody will be able to stream the game though. Imagine if they could and how slow everything would be!

 

[infobleep]

How have they been able to introduce free WiFi, will it be thrrough price increases? I can't believe the DfT would have stated the WiFi must be free for this new franchise agreement, as they are just taking over from the Virgin East Coast one.