Amtrak expanding Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi will be expanded on the system this year, including the entire Amfleet I fleet in the Northeast and additional West Coast trains. Wiring has also been improved in the New York tunnels.

2/16/11 news release

Amtrak plans to install AmtrakConnect on Northeast Corridor services and on more West Coast trains by the end of this year. With the recent selection of Nomad Digital as its preferred technology provider for nation-wide deployment, the Amtrak labor forces at the Ivy City Maintenance Facility in Washington, D.C., and the Penn Coach Yard in Philadelphia soon will begin installing Wi-Fi equipment in more than 450 Amfleet railcars.

Weren't they originally planning to have it on the Northeast Regionals back in October?

Murjax wrote:Weren't they originally planning to have it on the Northeast Regionals back in October?

No, Amtrak put out a press release last year (summer IIRC) that they were planning to add WiFi to all trains in the future, with the NE Regionals and California trains to be added, but did not give any dates. With the selection of a equipment provider, now the Amfleet Is will start getting equipped. Unfortunate that it has taken Amtrak this long to add WiFi to the Regionals because lack of WiFi appears to be hurting ridership on the Regionals.

The Pacific Surfliner has had wifi in business class for a few months now. Ive heard that its unsecured, so anyone close to the business car can use it.

While I hold that this posting is relevant to the topic at hand, it really does not relate to Amtrak affairs, but rather to the social revolution the internet has apparently brought about. Should the Moderators hold otherwise, I shall respect the removal of same.

Even though I can now say, as of yesterday, I have completed my first-ever internet transaction involving the purchase of tangible personal property (flowers), it still essentially is a "check e-mail and participate at this site" plaything. The same can be said of many others in the 70+ demographic (come on; how much do your grandparents really know of or use the internet beyond e-mail if even that?).

I guess it is time to accept, that appurtenances such as wi-fi access and those at-seat power outlets, even if meaningless to me, are necessities to a population with its US median age of about 34 (Egypt not even 25) than they are to one who is "closing in" on 70.

I think this article appearing in yesterday's Times is quite interesting and sobering as it shows how the internet and social networks (about which I know nothing other than that "they're there") brought on a political revolution and the authorities vain efforts to respond to such:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/techn ... ernet.html

Brief passage (selected to reflect experiences of long time friends' daughter):

• The most telling bit of evidence was that some Internet services inside the country were still working, at least sporadically. American University in Cairo, frantically trying to relocate students and faculty members away from troubled areas, was unable to use e-mail, cellphones — which were also shut down — or even a radio frequency reserved for security teams. But the university was able to update its Web site, hosted on a server inside Egypt, and at least some people were able to pull up the site and follow the emergency instructions.
  
  “The servers were up,” said Nagwa Nicola, the chief technology officer at American University in Cairo. “You could reach up to the Internet provider itself, but you wouldn’t get out of the country.” Ms. Nicola said that no notice had been given, and she depicted an operation that appeared to have been carried out with great secrecy.
  
  “When we called the providers, they said, ‘Um, hang on, we just have a few problems and we’ll be on again,’ ” she said. “They wouldn’t tell us it was out.”
  
  She added, “It wasn’t expected at all that something like that would happen.”

Even though I can now say, as of yesterday, I have completed my first-ever internet transaction involving the purchase of tangible personal property (flowers),

How did you get to be a moderator of an internet forum again?

Gilbert B Norman wrote:Even though I can now say, as of yesterday, I have completed my first-ever internet transaction involving the purchase of tangible personal property (flowers), it still essentially is a "check e-mail and participate at this site" plaything. The same can be said of many others in the 70+ demographic (come on; how much do your grandparents really know of or use the internet beyond e-mail if even that?).

That's an inaccurate generalization. I can think of people who are much older than you who are writing code on a daily basis. There are plenty of people who are both elderly and tech savvy. There's also a surprising high percentage of 20-somethings who have only accessed the internet through smartphones - and can only text message by typing with their thumbs. I can also think of people in their 40s who are utterly clueless. I really wonder where some of these people have been since the 90s?

afiggatt wrote:

Murjax wrote:Weren't they originally planning to have it on the Northeast Regionals back in October?

No, Amtrak put out a press release last year (summer IIRC) that they were planning to add WiFi to all trains in the future, with the NE Regionals and California trains to be added, but did not give any dates. With the selection of a equipment provider, now the Amfleet Is will start getting equipped. Unfortunate that it has taken Amtrak this long to add WiFi to the Regionals because lack of WiFi appears to be hurting ridership on the Regionals.

What? Is it 2005?

goodnightjohnwayne wrote:

Gilbert B Norman wrote:Even though I can now say, as of yesterday, I have completed my first-ever internet transaction involving the purchase of tangible personal property (flowers), it still essentially is a "check e-mail and participate at this site" plaything. The same can be said of many others in the 70+ demographic (come on; how much do your grandparents really know of or use the internet beyond e-mail if even that?).

That's an inaccurate generalization. I can think of people who are much older than you who are writing code on a daily basis. There are plenty of people who are both elderly and tech savvy. There's also a surprising high percentage of 20-somethings who have only accessed the internet through smartphones - and can only text message by typing with their thumbs. I can also think of people in their 40s who are utterly clueless. I really wonder where some of these people have been since the 90s?

No umbrage Mr. Morrison; and I'm sure my Sister (somewhat younger) will take none for my mention that she only uses a computer to check e-mails. She TELEPHONES a travel agent to book trips and her on-line retail sales experience is probably one less than I have to my name.

Give me credit for that I do book transportation and lodging as well as trade securities over the internet.

But to me, and I'm sure others in any demographic INCLUDING education level, the penetration that the internet has apparently made (I'm almost ready to say evidently) is simply astounding. A year ago, I would have simply, but respectfully, dismissed Mr. Figgatt's immediate observation that the absence of wi-fi is hurting Amtrak business as nonsense.....who cares; what's wrong with the Times, Journal, or a book?

Now I won't.

I think of an air trip I had this past September where at KRIC (to visit the family noted earlier) , a number of people were sitting on the floor of a boarding area around this base plug that I'm sure was originally intended for the cleaning people. I even heard one gal asking another if she could plug into her power strip. The whole thing seems like a revolution. In Egypt it was.

Oh and the flowers, they were delivered just fine according to the recipient.

afiggatt wrote: lack of WiFi appears to be hurting ridership on the Regionals.

Considering SPG-NYP was $99 each way this week, I don't think Amtrak is hurting for riders...

Cadet57 wrote:

afiggatt wrote: lack of WiFi appears to be hurting ridership on the Regionals.

Considering SPG-NYP was $99 each way this week, I don't think Amtrak is hurting for riders...

Amtrak's ridership seems to be limited by only by the lack of rollingstock.

The buses may have wi-fi, but there's one thing you can't get on a bus: cafe service.

R36 Combine Coach wrote:The buses may have wi-fi, but there's one thing you can't get on a bus: cafe service.

Some don't consider that a loss.

Greg Moore wrote:

R36 Combine Coach wrote:The buses may have wi-fi, but there's one thing you can't get on a bus: cafe service.

Some don't consider that a loss.

I take the peter pan bus regularly(once every month or two) from new york to Storrs, CT (Uconn) and the busses have wifi, it is without doubt the slowest internet connection I ever experience, It's about half the speed of the acela. In addition everyone know's what the bathrooms are like on the buses, plus the traffic. It's no comparison.

Although some people don't consider no cafe service a loss, the tables in the cafe are a big plus.

Gilbert B Norman wrote: She TELEPHONES a travel agent to book trips and her on-line retail sales experience is probably one less than I have to my name.
.

At the risk of wrecking havoc by going so far off topic the forum explodes, I do have one thing to add to this:

Real brick and mortar travel agencies can many times get better prices that the internet agencies, especially because they are so much more flexible.

One quick real world example:
Expedia, Orbitz and travelocity were selling Fresno-Guadalajara tickets for $500, airline mexicana.
Mexicana.com was selling the same flight for a promotional price of $249
A B&M agency my aunt owns was selling the same ticket for $199 (yes, less than direct through airline) because of the volume she does for that flight.


Im only posting this because I want everyone here to save money. Shop around, and dont discount older retail just because it's no longer cool.

R36 Combine Coach wrote:The buses may have wi-fi, but there's one thing you can't get on a bus: cafe service.

DC2NYC offers free bottled water. I believe limoliner offers free sandwiches and sodas.

Inter-city buses in mexico actually offer hot meals, the kind of stuff airlines use to serve (chicken or pasta?)

I'd caution again stereotyping inter-city bus service as greyhound. Are most US buslines bare-bones? Yup. But theres nothing stopping then from providing better service. In fact, Ive been on a bus with two restrooms, a well-stocked free mini-bar, 2-1 seating, curtains, attendant etc.