Internet Access on Amtrak Trains

DutchRailnut wrote:Again since free service is never free, are you willing to let ticket prices of everyone get higher so just a few can use internet ??

Along with using a good ad campaign as others have already mentioned, if ridership increases as a result of this, I don't see why you would have to increase fares.

I have had a Sprint Wireless card (USB) for three years and have used the service without interruptuion on NEC trains and during about 75% of LD trips coast to coast. If there is Sprint cellular service available there is internet access. My Sprint service costs $60/month and involved a two-year agreement. I am lucky to have grandfathered unlimited usage but new contracts have significant usage limits.
I once had a financial high-roller on Acela give me a hundred dollar bill for five minutes on my internet-connected laptop. He had assumed that Acela first class would have internet access. Buses have wifi, Amtrak should too.

jstolberg wrote:Schedule update: Boardman says wireless internet access to be in Acelas beginning in March.
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/2 ... rovements+

it was interesting enough that the nightly news announced that Acela trains would have wireless internet in 1Q and that all Acela trains would have new intereiors by the end of the year

I recently have been on coaches with no electric power (the outlets did not work)

My fellow passengers and I were kind of upset, having paid $95 for the convenience of being able to charge our laptops and cell phones while we get our work done. I hope it was a fluke, because Amtrak can't afford to lose more passengers to the $15 Bolt bus, which has outlets that actually work (and wifi, to boot!)

Launcher wrote:I recently have been on coaches with no electric power (the outlets did not work)

My fellow passengers and I were kind of upset, having paid $95 for the convenience of being able to charge our laptops and cell phones while we get our work done. I hope it was a fluke, because Amtrak can't afford to lose more passengers to the $15 Bolt bus, which has outlets that actually work (and wifi, to boot!)

What did the Conductor say when asked about them?

I've found they've become much more responsive in trying to fix the problem when that occurs than they have in the past.

Someone in an earlier message suggested that the outlets on one side of a coach are connected to the outlet in one restroom. Possibly, the other side is connected to the other restroom. When he pressed the Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter reset button on the outlet in a restroom, half the coach seat outlets started working!

This is a fairly lengthy discusson and I'm coming in late to the party. I didn't see it previously mentioned, so forgive me if I'm being repetitive, but the reason that the MBTA has internet access on its commuter trains and some buses is because management was looking for an efficient way to provide communication between its buses and trains and the operations center. It turns out the internet is the best way to do that. Management decided that as long as they were going to install the system, why not let the passengers use it too as a freebie. So as I read this thread I'm getting the impression that we aren't properly understanding the motivation to install internet access.

JimBoylan wrote:Someone in an earlier message suggested that the outlets on one side of a coach are connected to the outlet in one restroom. Possibly, the other side is connected to the other restroom. When he pressed the Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter reset button on the outlet in a restroom, half the coach seat outlets started working!

That was me.

It only seems to work fairly rarely.

Launcher wrote:I recently have been on coaches with no electric power (the outlets did not work)

My fellow passengers and I were kind of upset, having paid $95 for the convenience of being able to charge our laptops and cell phones while we get our work done. I hope it was a fluke, because Amtrak can't afford to lose more passengers to the $15 Bolt bus, which has outlets that actually work (and wifi, to boot!)

you paid $95 for transportation, the convenience of outlets is a freebee, which is not a guarantee.

DutchRailnut wrote:

Launcher wrote:I recently have been on coaches with no electric power (the outlets did not work)

My fellow passengers and I were kind of upset, having paid $95 for the convenience of being able to charge our laptops and cell phones while we get our work done. I hope it was a fluke, because Amtrak can't afford to lose more passengers to the $15 Bolt bus, which has outlets that actually work (and wifi, to boot!)

you paid $95 for transportation, the convenience of outlets is a freebee, which is not a guarantee.

So are seats a freebee, not a guarantee? I mean I don't REALLY need them for transportation.

Seriously, it is this sort of attitude that Amtrak's competition takes advantage of. It is correct, I know of no written guarantee that Amtrak has made to provide power at all seats (though I've seen lots of effort for them to do so and more effort on the part of conductors to make sure it's working). However, in the modern day and age, it has become a reasonable expectation on the part of travelers, especially on heavily traveled routs that cater in part to the business crowd.

I think that a few years ago the acela was running with discount fares because the power outlets where not working, on the website said right next to the fare, "no power outlets". I think with the acela it is something one should expect, on the other equipment its probably within the companies rights to have no power outlets and have no refund to the passengers.

Greg Moore wrote: So are seats a freebee, not a guarantee? I mean I don't REALLY need them for transportation.

no but saying a person paid xxx amount of $$$ for power outlet is like saying I paid $480 for bag of nuts on flight to Amsterdam.
lets keep things in perspective.

1. It isn't altogether unreasonable to expect working power outlets. From my own personal experience, I can state that I've never encountered an outlet on an Amtrak coach that didn't work.

2. The WiFi issue has become something of an embarrassment. Granted, standards keep changing, but it's been a practical proposition for quite a few years. I would like to think that previous underfunding was at the heart of this failure to provide an expected amenity.

3. Not every poster would make use of WiFi, in the same way that not every poster here currently makes use of the power outlets.

One of the pioneers in WiFi on trains is SNCF who put it on the TGV back in 2004. They used a small puck antenna on the roof of the passenger coach which feeds into a GSM modem that plugs into a little computer on a 1U rack mount server which is connected to an 802.11 access point. They have each of these units in each car to provide service equally.

As a side tangent on the power outlets; I boarded the Maple Leaf out of its start in Toronto one morning and found the outlet at my seat was dead. I mentioned to one of the VIA crew members and he said he would see if I can do something. About 5 minutes later it was on. I still want to know what he did!

DutchRailnut wrote:

Greg Moore wrote: So are seats a freebee, not a guarantee? I mean I don't REALLY need them for transportation.

no but saying a person paid * amount of $$$ for power outlet is like saying I paid $480 for bag of nuts on flight to Amsterdam.
lets keep things in perspective.

Yes let's. I've found your posts often are of the attitude, "the customer should suck up and like what they're getting."

If I paid $480 for a flight to Amsterdam and all I got was a bag of peanuts and the attitude of "hey, you should be lucky you even got a back of peanuts." I'd be looking at a competitor next time I flew. And if there was a competitor that was cheaper and offering hot meals in flight, you can guess who I'd be flying next time. That's the perspective we should be looking at. The competition to Amtrak in the NEC (and note I had restricted my argument to the well traveled corridors, which I believe we'd all agree the NEC qualifies for) offers wifi, power at the seats and often a cheaper price. That's the competition Amtrak is up against.