Wireless Internet on Trains

[ardmore19003]

Does Amtrak have any plans to install wireless internet on their trains? This would be a great amenity, especially in business class.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

God forbid, but I think they have plans to.

 

[GAT]

Why God forbid? Internet access isn't intrusive like cell phones are, or am I missing something here?

 

[battalion51]

I believe there was a trial with Amtrak California on Capitol Corridor service sometime in 06 or 07. The passengers loved the service, but complained of spotty coverage. There was talk I believe of attempting service with the Acelas. This may be part of the package that will happen when the first round of overhauls get done on the sets in the next year or two (also included Leather seats for First Class). A lot of serious business travelers these days though have a Verizon/Sprint/AT&T 3G wireless internet access card. So Amtrak's willingness to spend the money may decline with time.

 

[Rcknchr]

The Amtrak Downeaster that runs between Boston and Portland Maine has wireless.

 

[wayman]

There was talk I believe of attempting service with the Acelas. This may be part of the package that will happen when the first round of overhauls get done on the sets in the next year or two (also included Leather seats for First Class).

Amtrak on the NEC, at that pace, has fallen a year or two behind the express motorcoach NEC service. BoltBus (Greyhound's loss-leading luxury/express limited-stop line) has wireless, and MegaBus (Coach USA's loss-leading similar service) is working on it (I think they advertise it now, but in practice it's really spotty, from what I've heard).

The whole NEC travel-options price war going on is pretty interesting, with MegaBus coming in to try--quite overtly, their president has said this--to kill off the Chinatown buses through price wars, and Greyhound responding by creating BoltBus to try to keep some of that marketshare for themselves, undercutting their own regular service, which was always a support for their nationwide (higher-loss) operations.... Meanwhile, Amtrak and NJT/SEPTA continue to do what they've always done, Amtrak upping their quality while not upping fares much, and NJT/SEPTA ... not changing much aside from SEPTA raising fares so their chief merit over Amtrak (cheaper price) diminishes while their lower-comfort, one-transfer service remains. Obviously, the rail services aren't going to dry up on the corridor, but it's interesting, watching the motorcoaches jump in quality to the point that they *might* actually siphon some of the business traffic with their comfort and wireless if Amtrak doesn't keep up. Of course, one has to get over the "but it's a *bus*, so it's inherently less comfortable" factor.

 

[AlanB]

The Amtrak Downeaster that runs between Boston and Portland Maine has wireless.

Really? :unsure: That's news to me, I've not heard that one before and their site doesn't even list that as an ammenity. I would figure that they'd be listing Wi-Fi as an ammenity if they had it.

 

[transit54]

Of course, one has to get over the "but it's a *bus*, so it's inherently less comfortable" factor.

It is also a longer trip and there's always the risk of traffic on 95 which isn't very desirable.

The wireless issue was also discussed here a month or two ago.

 

[wayman]

Of course, one has to get over the "but it's a *bus*, so it's inherently less comfortable" factor.

It is also a longer trip and there's always the risk of traffic on 95 which isn't very desirable.

A longer trip? The bus from Philadelphia to New York is generally 90-110 minutes. The only time I've had a bus take longer was when it overheated, but hey, trains break down once in a while too so I count that as exceptional. I don't know how the buses do it, but they generally do amazing things with travel time.... You're right, traffic *should* slow them down, and I always think that when considering what mode of transport to take. But whenever I'm traveling with a friend, the friend insists (because of cost) on taking the bus and I go along with it and am amazed.

I can't speak for other stretches of the NEC, since I've only taken the bus on that stretch.

 

[transit54]

I haven't taken busses on the NEC at all, actually, so I can't speak from personal experience. However I've considered doing it on many an occasions between New York and Boston - the scheduled times seem to be much longer for the bus on that route.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

The thing Amtrak really needs if it wants to take market share away from the buses is more rolling stock.

 

[amamba]

I was able to pretty much stay connected to the internet via my iPhone on my recent trip earlier today on the 194 from TRE to BOS. I observed plenty of other pax online on their laptops with wireless cards that are done through cell phone providers (ie sprint, AT&T, etc). My iPhone will pick up a wifi network when available, and it picked them up occassionally for brief stops at train stations, for example Norfolk, CT. But the iPhone was spotty because my connection dropped everytime I changed towers, which booted me off the webpage I was looking at. I would pay extra for a ticket if it included free wifi on the train.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

If you are paying more, it ain't free.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

Love letter to those who use cell phones aboard trains: Kill Yourself. NOW.

 

[Tony]

Does Amtrak have any plans to install wireless internet on their trains? This would be a great amenity, especially in business class.

You mean a T-Mobile hot spot, for like $25/trip? Would you really be willing to shell out that much money to work on your vacation trip?

I was just in the Acela Lounge in Philly. Amtrak offers free WiFi for their lounge, but unfortunately, it is drowned out by the strong signal from T-Mobile for fee WiFi that's in the rest of the station.

Every time I connected up to the Acela Lounge WiFi, I would start to access my work email, and while doing that, my notebook kept jumping to the stronger T-Mobile signal, which of course, since I was not paying to access, would kill my email connection to work.

 

[PetalumaLoco]

From amtrak.com

Amtrak passengers can connect to the T-Mobile® HotSpot wireless Internet service while waiting for the train in five key stations in the Northeast Corridor:

*

Washington Union Station

*

Baltimore Penn Station

*

Wilmington Station

*

Philadelphia 30th Street Station

*

New York Penn Station

 

[Tony]

From amtrak.com
Amtrak passengers can connect to the T-Mobile® HotSpot wireless Internet service while waiting for the train in five key stations in the Northeast Corridor:

*

Washington Union Station

*

Baltimore Penn Station

*

Wilmington Station

*

Philadelphia 30th Street Station

*

New York Penn Station

Note the words "for free" are completely missing from that quote.

As I just mentioned in my post above, the T-Mobile Hotspot at PHL, is certainly not for free. Therefore, I doubt any of the others are.

If Amtrak allows T-Mobile to charge in their stations, why would anyone think Amtrak would turn around and offer WiFi for free on their trains?

 

[Long Train Runnin']

Love letter to those who use cell phones aboard trains: Kill Yourself. NOW.

what do you mean?? you mean talking or texting or surfing the web???

 

[sky12065]

Love letter to those who use cell phones aboard trains: Kill Yourself. NOW.

what do you mean?? you mean talking or texting or surfing the web???

I know where WhoozOn1st is coming from! I was in a restaurant one time where a woman (not more than 3 feet from me) was on her cell phone goo-goo'ing and ga-ga'ing a young child. I was wishing she would inhale and swollow her cell phone in the middle of a goo-goo'ing... but I would go as far as to wish her to kill herself! :mellow:

 

[Long Train Runnin']

while i admit i think that talking on a cell phone in public quiet place does annoy people i find it very awkward to be yapping away about something personal while strangers are all around. But i am talking about whats wrong with using your cell phone or smart phone to surf the web and send texts

 

[amamba]

Love letter to those who use cell phones aboard trains: Kill Yourself. NOW.

I am pretty sure that me surfing the web on my iPhone (including posting to this forum!) on the train was much less obtrusive to other pax than the gaggle of teenagers singing for five hours.

And if they didn't want to raise ticket prices to put in wifi, then I would pay $25 or something like that to get wifi on my computer for the whole of the NEC. But I wouldn't want to pay the T-mobile hot spot hourly rates which are highway robbery. I was just trying to think of a way that they could get more revenue, and it seems that by raising the price for everyone that would be more revenue than just having the people that use the service pay. Also, if i am using a T -mobile hot spot, doesn't that revenue go to T-mobile, not amtrak?

 

[transit54]

I sort of fall on the fence of this issue. On one hand, I'm a huge stickler for cell phone courtesy. I've gone so far as to consider getting a cell phone jammer just to take care of the problem. On the other hand, I'm inseperable from my Blackberry, and especially on long train trips, I need to occasionally make or receive calls. I'm just very aware of what I'm doing when I'm doing it and just speak very quietly, as if I'm talking to someone in my seat next to me. If I'm going to have a long conversation I try and move to the cafe car. And I never, ever, ever will touch my phone in a quiet car! That's something that really ticks me off.

Part of the reason I can justify taking the train places is that I can get a lot of work done enroute - I take my laptop and can get cellular internet through my Blackberry. It makes the eight hour ride of the Vermonter preferable to the equivalent 4.5 hours of driving, namely because I can get so much more done. Where I draw the line on trains is if people are having personal, loud and long cell phone conversations. I have in the past and will continue to ask those people to move, or at least I'll pick up my stuff and locate elsewhere if at all possible. I've never had any problem with anyone conducting business on the train - they all seem to have a decent sense of cell phone courtesy - its those yappers who decide that the whole eight hour train ride should be a continuous call to their family/boyfriend/girlfriend/close friend/etc and don't acknowledge that everyone else in the car has to listen to them.

 

[transit54]

Love letter to those who use cell phones aboard trains: Kill Yourself. NOW.

I am pretty sure that me surfing the web on my iPhone (including posting to this forum!) on the train was much less obtrusive to other pax than the gaggle of teenagers singing for five hours.

And if they didn't want to raise ticket prices to put in wifi, then I would pay $25 or something like that to get wifi on my computer for the whole of the NEC. But I wouldn't want to pay the T-mobile hot spot hourly rates which are highway robbery. I was just trying to think of a way that they could get more revenue, and it seems that by raising the price for everyone that would be more revenue than just having the people that use the service pay. Also, if i am using a T -mobile hot spot, doesn't that revenue go to T-mobile, not amtrak?

When I rode VIA Rail they charged about $7 for the four hour train trip. It seemed to work decently well.

 

[Tony]

I know where WhoozOn1st is coming from!

Me too.

I was at a Super Walmart this morning. There was a woman, who I finally figured out was clear on the other side of the store, taking on her Nextel cell phone. That Nextel BEEP was both clear and annoying through out the entire store!

Could you immagine would it would be like with several Nextel phones BEEPING away in an LD coach car?

 

[WhoozOn1st]

Aboard Hiawathas to/from Chicago/Milwaukee there were Quiet Cars. A blessing. No cell phone use. Incredibly pleasant trips as a result. We don't have Quiet Cars on Pacific Surfliners, so regularly learn that Aunt Marge not only lost her glasses, but has started drinking again. The ex is refusing to jack up child support payments, so it's back in court. Bob and Sally broke up, and it was her fault. Fred is having brain replacment surgery, and will not be himself.

I propose an alternative to the Quiet Car: Cell Phone Car. Let users stew in their own juices with each other.

EDIT: MARC also has Quiet Cars on some runs. Me and the girlfriend were talking. Guy across the aisle, who was reading, said "This is the quiet car." Replied, "Quiet car. Not SILENT car." Glared at each other. Then the guy got up to go use the restroom, slammed and locked the door. "Hey pal, keep the noise down! Quiet Car, remember?"