RAILROAD.NET

Does amtrak have any plans to add Wifi to there regular trains ? I was kinda surprised it wasnt there ? But a charge of $3-5 would be tolerable to use it.

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentSe ... 7405732514

Amtrak is evaluating opportunities to implement Wi-Fi on other trains. Look for more information about this in the months ahead.

Interesting, thanks for the link, M&E. I'm not familiar with how the technology would be implemented over long distances. On the NEC, with plentiful catenary structures, wire, etc., I'm sure it's easier.

Most smart phones these days come with a mobile hotspot, i.e. "MyFi". I'm guessing if you need it that bad, you can do it that way from almost anywhere in the lower 48.

you need to pay extra for data services, something which casual riders probably don't do. All Amtrak's competitors (bolt, mega, and soon the airlines) off it already, it's a cost of doing business.

Steampowered wrote:Does amtrak have any plans to add Wifi to there regular trains ? I was kinda surprised it wasnt there ? But a charge of $3-5 would be tolerable to use it.

There's plenty to read on your question here.

Two cell phones w/o data plans already cost me $100/month, so a data plan is out of my budget. If Greyhound, Bolt Bus, etc. can have free WiFi onboard, I don't know why this is such a PITA for Amtrak. Not having wifi on Amtrak's trains in 2010 is an embarrassment for the railroad, IMHO.

Most smart phones are required now to have data plans.

Jeff Smith wrote:Most smart phones are required now to have data plans.

Yes but in most cases data plan != tethering.

As for the question on Bolt Bus vs say Amtrak. I tend to agree. But there are also other considerations:

1) Bolt Bus has what about 60 passengers? Amtrak can have 5-8 times that number on a single train. So total bandwidth needs tend to be a bit higher.

2) Bolt Bus is running on roads where there's already a fairly easy architecture to tap into. In my experience both on ALB-NYP and then even NYP-WAS there are areas that don't have much if any coverage. The cell phone companies most likely don't find it worth their money to put in extra cells there to just serve train traffic (as opposed to most major highways).

That said, it's frustrating that Amtrak doesn't have better coverage.

Jeff Smith wrote:Most smart phones are required now to have data plans.

If your cool, you can get around that pesky restriction.

Greg Moore wrote:

Jeff Smith wrote:Most smart phones are required now to have data plans.

Yes but in most cases data plan != tethering.

Depending on your comfort level with tinkering, phone, and phone OS you can tether on unsupported devices just fine. I do (did) it on my Tmobile G1.

Jeff Smith wrote:Interesting, thanks for the link, M&E. I'm not familiar with how the technology would be implemented over long distances. On the NEC, with plentiful catenary structures, wire, etc., I'm sure it's easier.

Most smart phones these days come with a mobile hotspot, i.e. "MyFi". I'm guessing if you need it that bad, you can do it that way from almost anywhere in the lower 48.

Unfortunately, at least for Tmobile, there are many out-of-service spots in the country. On my Silver Meteor trip from KIS to PHL, I had no cell reception roughly from northern Georgia to North Carolina -- most of the night!

Let's look at how many potential customers there are on long distance Amtrak trains. Many long distance trains consists of two to three coaches plus a few sleepers as revenue cars. At most, 300 passengers. At two trains a day, some just 6 trains a week, who in their right mind is going to install the full coverage, no dropout wireless communication equipment for so few users along the entire line. At best you should hope for wireless communication in areas with sufficient local customers, and that means there will be dead spots.
Golly, just a few decades ago when I moved into the county I now reside, there were still party lines to rural customers.

As with bolt bus, the wifi equipment would be located onboard the vehicle, not road/trackside. I've been following the development of this for quite some time now, and I think people are slightly misinformed now and again, the railcars will have the satellite equipment to hook to the Internet, and the wifi equipment to create the "hotspot". If you experienced slow speeds, it's because everyone else on the whole train is likely also using it. Once fully developed and deployed; it will be robust enough to carry every passengers' data needs. I hope nj transit looks at this and sees if they can put it on their light rail lines, path also should look into it I think.

i dont think the cost would be more then $200 a car.

There was a document released this summer that showed the timeline for implementation. Does anybody have that link?

From what I remember, the california trains were next in line to get wifi, after the NEC.

was it mentioned in the last timetable that the cs was getting "amtrak connect" in the parlor car?

Steampowered wrote:i dont think the cost would be more then $200 a car.

i don't think you could get a Wifi technician to turn up for $ 200 .