Amtrak Wi-Fi (WiFi) Availability

For whatever reason this wifi stuff doesn't work at all in or around the philly station. Usually have to wait till your out of north philly. The other day by the time I was able to get a page to load we had stopped at trenton.

Hmm. Last Saturday I took the Carolinian (79) down to Washington and returned on 166 on Sunday afternoon to attend the Gaithersburg RR show (where I happened to run into our former host, Otto Vondrak). I could only have wished to have been denied access to illicit websites. I couldn't connect on AmtrakConnect from my seat on either journey. On the way down, I was able to use it in the cafe car and one other car. On the way back I couldn't get a signal in any of the first three or four cars, and I was too tired to try elsewhere.

And I was using one of the most recent issue MacBook Pros, so obsolescence wasn't an issue here.

The issue here was most likely you were in an amfleet 2 which is NOT wifi enabled. 79 is a limited wifi service train and it is only available in business class and cafe car unfortunatly.

travelrobb wrote:Hmm. Last Saturday I took the Carolinian (79) down to Washington and returned on 166 on Sunday afternoon to attend the Gaithersburg RR show (where I happened to run into our former host, Otto Vondrak). I could only have wished to have been denied access to illicit websites. I couldn't connect on AmtrakConnect from my seat on either journey. On the way down, I was able to use it in the cafe car and one other car. On the way back I couldn't get a signal in any of the first three or four cars, and I was too tired to try elsewhere.

And I was using one of the most recent issue MacBook Pros, so obsolescence wasn't an issue here.

Train 166 should have wifi in each car.

For anyone with a smartphone, you can use an app to see if their is wifi in the particular car (I use wifi finder on android, works well)

Opps sorry didnt see the 166 part. Possible one of the cars in consist had its wifi breaker off or some other possible technical problem? I wouldnt expect this system to be perfect yet still since it is very new.

ApproachMedium wrote:The issue here was most likely you were in an amfleet 2 which is NOT wifi enabled. 79 is a limited wifi service train and it is only available in business class and cafe car unfortunatly.

Unless there has been a significant change in the consists recently, the Carolinian uses entirely Amfleet I cars. If the Amtrak Connect WiFi signal was shown, then there may have been a configuration problem with the system setup on the train if it is working in the café car, but not some of the others. Maybe a connecting Ethernet cable was not plugged in?

There are no Ethernet cables in the cars to come unplugged, everything car to car is wireless and the base station in each car has two coax antennas wired to it on either end. The plugs for these are of the "industrial" type and wouldn't just pop off. It is possible if someone didn't know what the wifi breaker is for, most aren't labeled that i have seen, they may have mistakenly turned it off in the Cafe car or one coach. Once one car in the consist is dropped out though the system wont go down to the rest of the cars past it.

I have to give it to them though this system was designed pretty well that each car works without being wired together etc.

Just for the record, I could connect to the AmtrakConnect wi-fi signal on both trips. However, I could not use the wi-fi connection to go on the internet. And apparently, nobody else in the cars I checked could either.

Gotcha! This is the problem i always have coming out of philly once we pass frankford it usually then works

Maybe Amtrak should try using Networking over Power on the NEC. They could attach an external LED link light to the pantograph assembly so you know it was working.

Is the wifi on the pennsylvanian just in the cafe car or do some of the cars in the consist also have it?

The Carolinian 79/80 runs Amfleet 1's only.
The Pennsylvanian 42/43 has 1 Amfleet 1 car and a few Amfleet 2's. Only the single Amfleet 1 car will have the wifi.

jcepler1 wrote:The Carolinian 79/80 runs Amfleet 1's only.
The Pennsylvanian 42/43 has 1 Amfleet 1 car and a few Amfleet 2's. Only the single Amfleet 1 car will have the wifi.

Correction, the Business class, Cafe, and Amfleet 1 will have the wifi. The AM2 cars are the only ones without it, and an AM1 coach needs a AM1 cafe to be able to function since that is the "brain" car.

ApproachMedium wrote: Correction, the Business class, Cafe, and Amfleet 1 will have the wifi. The AM2 cars are the only ones without it, and an AM1 coach needs a AM1 cafe to be able to function since that is the "brain" car.

What is the normal order of the cars on the Pennsylvanian? If the AM 1 business class car is at the front, followed by AM 2 followed by the café car, then the AM 1 car(s), how does the business class car get the signal from the café car hub?

If the business class car has WiFi, that will at least give them something more than a free can of soda as a step up from the Amfleet II cars with the LD seats and bigger windows. Well, until the AM 2s get wired for WiFi which should be on the agenda for the year now that Congress has passed an ok capital grant and survival level operating grant level budgets for the FY.

Normal layout was always AM1 Business, AM1 Cafe, 4 AM2, 1 AM1 coach on the rear. Since the wifi, all trains in this consist configuration which includes the palmetto have had the AM1 coach moved to directly behind the Cafe to provide customers with the WiFi service.