Comments on: Amtrak, now with some wireless internet

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By: A call for wireless access on the commuter rails :: Second Ave. Sagas

A call for wireless access on the commuter rails :: Second Ave. Sagas — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:01:36 +0000

[...] also coexist peacefully with the MTA’s own radio-based operations and with Amtrak’s wireless access points as well. It must be able to support the bandwidth demands of every person who wants to use it, and [...]

By: Miguel

Miguel — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:40:39 +0000

A WSJ piece a couple of months ago claimed that Amtrak would adding WiFi capability to its NE Regional trains during the third quarter of 2010. Has this changed?

By: John

John — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:48:54 +0000

I would much rather have new Amtrak routes than wi-fi on the existing routes.

By: Rhywun

Rhywun — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:08:24 +0000

I don’t like any of this. I’m perfectly capable of entertaining myself during lengthy, predictable periods without Internet access. And call me old-fashioned and lazy, but one of the old joys of business travel was getting away from the office for awhile
Nowadays, one is expected to be “working” 24/7 – always on call. Only recently are reports pouring in that such expectations are unrealistic and even detrimental.

By: pete

pete — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:00:01 +0000

But the thing is, that $60 a month (it can be cheaper if you use Virgin Mobile prepaid dongle) works basically everywhere. On LIRR or NJT train. On ANY bus. In a taxi. At your grandma with no internet’s house. At your employer that blocks facebook on the company’s internet. At any restaurant. While your driving your car or a lawn mower (don’t drive distracted, use it to play internet radio with the screen closed for example). I’m using it right now writing this post on Metro North.

By: Mad Park

Mad Park — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:02:47 +0000

I think there are many of us in the US who’d rather have Amtrak spend the paltry sums our Congress appropriates to it on actual passenger rail cars, staff training and roadbed maintenance, rather on some fancy electronics that’ll be out of date in 5 years. Fix the cars at Beech Grove first!

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:08:13 +0000

The LGV Est uses satellite connection, if I’m not mistaken.

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:07:33 +0000

The premium buses aren’t the only competition for the Acela. The private car is the dominant mode of transportation on all city pairs, and on some, for example New York/Boston, Amtrak still has fewer passengers than the air shuttles.

By: @epc

@epc — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:47:38 +0000

It may just not be practical to offer wireless outside the dense NE corridor. I took Amtrak to Denver from NYP in November and had very mixed experiences trying to use AT&T 3G as well as Verizion’s 3g service. In NY State you can get 3g service pretty much across the entire state, except for a weird bit between Peekskill and Beacon. But once I got into the more rural portions of Indiana and Ohio I only got signal in the immediate vicinity of urban areas.

I switched to a Verizon wireless broadband from Chicago to Denver and had fantastic coverage to about Omaha, then nothing almost the rest of the way to Denver.

On my return trip I routed through Pittsburgh and found that neither AT&T nor Verizon had much coverage between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg.

My point with this is that Amtrak isn’t going to wire the connectivity themselves (as an aside I’m curious who they’re using as a provider in the Acela). If the 3g service isn’t there for the train to connect to already, I doubt that an ISP or WISP will provide it just for Amtrak passengers.