Amtrak Wi-Fi (WiFi) Availability

David Benton wrote:I think Wifi for the LD service would be good , but generate alot of complaints when there's no reception. Do city folks even have a concept of areas without reception for miles?
a better idea i think , would to be to install a hard drive server in every LD cafe/lounge car. Have all the amtrak info on it , a few games, a few free books, a few magazines etc. News service updated daily via reception when avaliable. Should be enough to keep most campers happy. Could have a lot of potential upsells, do a deal with the likes of Amazon, zinio, netflix etc, and have onboard sales via eftpos. Could even sell Kindles onboard.
A captive market, waiting to be tapped.

This would be a very good idea, IF executed right.

However, it does jar my memory towards, very short-lived "Dig-E-Player" (circa 2007). The basic idea was a replacement for the old lounge car movies with a portable DVD player that you could watch in your room/at your seat. It was a bad idea for many reasons, namely:
- AFAIK, you could only rent/return it at the initial/final terminals
- all it was was a movie player, not an interactive product like Mr Benton suggests.
- the base technology/idea, when rolled out, was already quite a bit behind its time. i.e., even many of the "luddites" didn't go for it.
- in spite of the rentals being done at the station, the "stock" of these devices (while onboard) was still in charge of the LSA - a discrepancy which represented an accountability nightmare

Maybe selling Kindles (or iPads, or Nooks, or whatever) would be taking the idea a bit too far. The price tag would just be too hefty for many folks to jump on it, and a rental system is kind of a dicey proposition as well. The idea of having this interactive "offline" content available for anyone to peruse on their own personal devices, though, is probably worth merit, and the implementation cost of such would be relatively low.

Thanks Eric. Your right , I wouldn't expect the sales of kindle etc, to be high , and probably not worth it. Almost everyone would have some kind of wifi capable device. Book, magazine, movie and game sales I could see as a potential money spinner, certainly enough to pay for the installation of the equipment.

The device is not the issue (ie renting vid players) but the infrastructure.

Sticking your head in the ground and saying "we don't need that" puts you on the same track as a Luddite. This is simply something people EXPECT. Ma and Pa Kettle maybe in the next roomette but ...

I am pleased Amtrak did NOT adopt the "cruise" approach of putting Jesse James in your cabin (holding you up for outrageous fees) but it is time they sucked it up and install the equipment. However their approach of liming bandwidth is not acceptable either. One of the network guys at work told me that 17% of the bandwidth in this country was used for two apps - YouTube and Netflix. Streaming media is part of our life.

I am taking the EB this summer to Glacier, and from the Verizon service map, it looks like 80% of the trip will have coverage. I am going to log how often I have coverage as my science fair project next year. OK it's been fifty years since I created one of those,, but I am interested to see how much infrastructure already exits.

I don't need my toys to live, I use my toys to enhance the value of my existence. I can live without email and message, it does not bring meaning to my existence but it increases the pleasure of my existence. I do like the idea I can put all my plans and reservations into TripIt but sadly now there are places I can't use it.

Amtrak does not limit the bandwidth per say, they limit what you can do with the bandwidth because it is so limited in the first place. I do believe they may have added streaming video/video conferencing to the Acela trains though. With a captive set of 5 coaches of seating they have a better way to predict bandwidth usage and divide it up individually.

ApproachMedium wrote:Amtrak does not limit the bandwidth per say, they limit what you can do with the bandwidth because it is so limited in the first place. I do believe they may have added streaming video/video conferencing to the Acela trains though. With a captive set of 5 coaches of seating they have a better way to predict bandwidth usage and divide it up individually.

Also, as captive equipment in what's probably the most cell dense part of the country, they can be pretty confident of 4G along most of the trip.

With the Amfleet cars, in a lot of places they're still going to be able to access the existing 3G infrastructure.

So, you upgrade Acela first. And of course those are the passengers who are paying the most.

I would think that virtually every Acela passenger carries a MiFi or an iPhone/Android capable of spinning up a mobile hotspot. Wifi on trains is for folks who don't carry a smartphone.

Jehochman wrote:I would think that virtually every Acela passenger carries a MiFi or an iPhone/Android capable of spinning up a mobile hotspot.

The same should be roughly true at Starbucks, and yet people love the WiFi.

Jehochman wrote:Wifi on trains is for folks who don't carry a smartphone.

More like it is for the people who don't want the hassle of "setting up the lab" at the start of the trip, only to have to pack it up at the end.

It ends up being a big tangle of charging-cords and devices to provide your own connection. And worse, there's no good place to put it:
- In a bag, unplugged, generating a hotspot, the connection or battery life can't be monitored
- Going to the meeting by train, you don't want to kill your batteries (on 4g or not-charging), and coming home, you usually find that you have...so you need a plug
- In a bag, plugged in, making a hotspot and charging, you get this weird tether
- If you're at a window, great--until the aisle guy wants to plug in. If you're in an aisle, awkward
- If everyone needs to power a MiFi, charge a phone, and charge a laptop/tablet, the plug fight and cord tangle gets ugly.
- On an Acela table, it cuts into workspace and makes a sliding mess, on your lap its a worse tangle of charging and jumble of devices
- If you or a seatmate wants to use the Cafe or potty, it all has to get disassembled or hidden
- and that's a lot of easy-to-lose pieces to set up and break down.

My experience is that about 70% of people traveling for business are bad at doing their own tech support. I'm good at it (but dislike it for the reasons above), and where there isn't Amtrak WiFi, they look to me to share my MiFi...and then I get "is it on? Is it connected?" questions.

Acela WiFi makes the train like a real office. Sit down, light your screen, connect, get to work.

wi fi on the NEC seemed way better north of Philly than south of it

Why would someone want to use a MiFi device that they pay per gig on when they can use an amtrak free amenity aboard the train?

ApproachMedium wrote:Why would someone want to use a MiFi device that they pay per gig on when they can use an amtrak free amenity aboard the train?

I agree with your inference: 99% of someones won't, and will expect Amtrak to get them good WiFi.

But to answer your rhetorical question, a tiny minority--who already have MiFi for some other reason (and probably expensible/ paid for by work), who are willing to have an other puck and cord added to their tangle of devices--might prefer their own connection for speed and security. But that's not where the market is headed.

The Maple Leaf generally consists of some Amfleet I coaches with wifi, a Cafe/Business car with wifi, and some Amfleet II coaches with no wifi. What annoys me is that the crew don't seem to understand that distinction. So they passengers in the II coaches "it should be working, guess it's broken today".

If you have an iPhone, click: settings, person hotspot, on. You now have your own wifi at 4g speed.

For short trips, run on battery. For long trips an iPhone or MiFi can charge off the laptop USB port. It's hardly a mess of wires. I keep everything I need in a computer backpack from Staples. It takes two minutes to setup or break down the mobile office.

On a 5-8 car train, does only one car need to have WiFi for all the passengers to enjoy the feature, or is each individual equipped?

Andy

Each car has to have the stuff for it, as mentioned before currently only Amfleet 1 cars have it. The cars must all be adjacent to each other for it to work. Cafe cars and Cab cars are the main server cars that connect to the cellular network. If your trains cafe gets substituted for an amfleet 2 cafe, your train will not have wifi even if the rest of the consist is amfleet 1 cars which are capable of it.

FYI:

US Train Giant Joins Global WiFi on Trains Conference

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Amtrak is to join the roster of train operators from all over the world speaking at this year's WiFi on Trains Conference - Train Communications Systems 2014 (London, 11-12 June). The US company has become one of the most innovative in this sector as it strives to deliver high-speed broadband to trains running on the American East Coast corridor.

As the US and Europe vie for leadership in this fast-moving area, trackside delivery and higher data capacity have become the current focus. The insatiable demand for increased bandwidth from passengers, once connected, is forcing operators and rail administrators to re-think wireless and satellite delivery options.

One of the most keenly awaited presentations at the conference will be from Network Rail who will discuss their plans for the future of trackside wireless systems in the UK.

Said Graham Wilde, MD of BWCS, "WiFi on trains has been proven to drive up passenger numbers, the question now for operators is what else they can do with the connections in terms of driving new services and cutting operating costs?"

Amtrak, which in line with all other train companies, has had issues in keeping its passengers happy with the speed of on-train connections, said of the conference: "We look forward to attending this event each year as it attracts operators and suppliers from around the world, allowing us to learn about others' latest advances and plans in the passenger rail wireless arena. We truly rely on this forum to make key contacts and stay abreast of the fast-changing technologies."