Amtrak Wi-Fi (WiFi) Availability

ryanov wrote:

161pw165 wrote:As an IT consultant, requiring the availability of wi-fi en route or in an establishment simply isn't an option. A smartphone w/ data plan AND an air-card for my laptop are must haves.

I can't understand why ANYONE pays for both of these items? Why on earth wouldn't one tether their phone than pay TWO cell plans for this stuff?

As someone who works in IT:

1.) Heat. My phone gets hot when tethered and charging. It sometimes has to shut off.

2.) Power. Charging via USB my phone ends up dying shortly after removing the cable. While using WIFI router helps in that I can charge via 120V outlet, it still is a heat problem.

3.) Convinence. The aircard built into my laptop; I never forget it, never loose it, don't have to set it up, just click "enable radio" and then connect.

4.) Power. The data is being fed to the 2.8GHZ Core I7 processor instead of the one in the phone.

5.) I can disable my wifi system to save power.

My supeliner coach on the Cap. Limited today said it was wifi capable but i didnt try it out. This message though is being brought to you at high speed just south of wilmington.

atsf sp wrote:My supeliner coach on the Cap. Limited today said it was wifi capable but i didnt try it out. This message though is being brought to you at high speed just south of wilmington.

That's good to hear that they are working on the superliner equipment.

My experience of late is that free Wi-Fi is worth what you (didn't) pay for it. In the last two moths, air travel has taken me through both SFO and DEN. The last time at SFO, the free Wi-Fi was completely unusable in a crowded gate area. Even moving away to an uncrowded area only gave me service for a few minutes before it disconnected on me.
At DEN, I did have somewhat usable service but it was pathertically slow. And once free Wi-Fi is there, the pay options (even if you're a subscriber to something like Boingo) go away. So you can't even pay for better service.
In short, free Wi-Fi sounds like a good idea until it gets overused, then for many practical purposes, it's the same as no Wi-Fi.

On a recent Pennsylvanian trip from Newark all the way to Pitt, wi-fi worked well the entire time in the wi-fi car. However, I did nap between tyrone and greensburg.

nyswfan wrote:On a recent Pennsylvanian trip from Newark all the way to Pitt, wi-fi worked well the entire time in the wi-fi car. However, I did nap between tyrone and greensburg.

Probably one of the few trains it works well on because its only provided to about 3-3.5 cars. It seems like the same problem now is happening with Verizon 3G service. I found when we were in Johnstown PA and Altoona last January during a snow storm and all the buffs were at Springfield. There was NOBODY out there and our internet went just as fast as it did I first got a smartphone. Home in NJ or at work in NY it goes so slow sometimes its going backwards.

ApproachMedium wrote:

nyswfan wrote:On a recent Pennsylvanian trip from Newark all the way to Pitt, wi-fi worked well the entire time in the wi-fi car. However, I did nap between tyrone and greensburg.

Probably one of the few trains it works well on because its only provided to about 3-3.5 cars. It seems like the same problem now is happening with Verizon 3G service. I found when we were in Johnstown PA and Altoona last January during a snow storm and all the buffs were at Springfield. There was NOBODY out there and our internet went just as fast as it did I first got a smartphone. Home in NJ or at work in NY it goes so slow sometimes its going backwards.

i thought that was a good policy, because its separated the train. I was able to work remotely until about 5, and then I moved to a non-wifi car were people were reading or sleeping and was able to enjoy a quiet ride.

I do agree its a good setup, because it limits who can get on the wifi system so the service is actually usable. 9 cars on a regional trying to share that one connection from the Cafe is horrible. If only business class and cafe car people could get on then the connection would be a heck of a lot faster.

ApproachMedium wrote:I do agree its a good setup, because it limits who can get on the wifi system so the service is actually usable. 9 cars on a regional trying to share that one connection from the Cafe is horrible. If only business class and cafe car people could get on then the connection would be a heck of a lot faster.

I believe VIA has free wifi only for their first class, could be a good idea for amtrak...

ApproachMedium why dont you just run a simple speed test and post your findings I think we all would like to see what speeds you were referring to on your Verizon 3g vs. in train WIFI. I easily pull 4.5 mbps in some remote but capable Tmobile 3G areas much higher in 4G areas . PS: just so you under my belt MSCE, A+, NET+ and assc. in Computer science All for over a decade. Thinking of going for cloud cert next.

Hi55 on most corridor trains VIA rail has WIFI available for all customers, however theres is a catch. The initial repeater in the VIA 1 cars has a stronger signal than on the coaches so essentially VIA one customers get the better connection.

One solution for implementing WIFI on Amtrak to keep the system from overuse is simply have IT dedicate 2 different log in's. One for free customers in which there connection will be limited to say in between 128k or 256k which is enough for basic web surfing and even the basic music streaming APP ( pandora, slacker etc.). Free Wifi at 128/256K still looks good to the casual internet user who may be paying ATT $15 for only 200 MB or Verizon $10 for 75 MB plus overages. The secondary a simple click away for compliant IT professionals, a separate long in page where you enter a password that could be printed on first class ( business class or sleeper car passenger) tickets or use the barcode digits on Amtrak tickets as a Password. This would allow those customers to access the net above the 128/256k threshold. Just a friendly opinion.

Next time I have a train to myself I will post the speed findings. My VZW 3g right now cant even pull more than 1 megabit sitting at home.

Mr. Gilbert B Norman
Good to see you are still here. I was here back in the days of Crazy Nip, when Mr. David Gunn was going to save us at Amtrak. I found you to be extremly informed.
Mark A. Thomas
Amtrak Locomotive Technician

A not very complimentary review of Amtrak WiFi.

Followup: Amtrak Wi-Fi

I got a lot of feedback arguing that Amtrak's Northeast Corridor Wi-Fi is bad for the exact same reason mobile phone reception on Amtrak is bad, since Amtrak is just piggybacking on the mobile operators' network.

That's interesting and does explain it. But I guess my point is that Amtrak could invest in building an independent network capability that operated at higher speeds and with more reliability. And more to the point, if Amtrak did build something like that they could sell the Wi-Fi service to customers.

They really need to get with Verizon and move the whole thing over to 4G. I saw what 4G can do the other day on a new Ipad, its got WAY more bandwidth. If Verizon could make sure they have 4g along the entire ROW or at least as much of it as possible they could help provide a better service that way. Amtrak is not about to invest in adding that kind of external infrastructure.

ApproachMedium wrote:They really need to get with Verizon and move the whole thing over to 4G. I saw what 4G can do the other day on a new Ipad, its got WAY more bandwidth. If Verizon could make sure they have 4g along the entire ROW or at least as much of it as possible they could help provide a better service that way. Amtrak is not about to invest in adding that kind of external infrastructure.

If you're going to suggest using cell phone technology, why install wifi aboard Amtrak trains at all?