A few weeks ago, I had the chance to take the Acela from New York to Boston, and after years of hearing about Amtrak’s terrible WiFi service, I was pleasantly surprised by the Internet connection. I could stream audio for the entire duration of the trip and saw my connection drop just once. Were I trying to do productive work that required web access, Amtrak’s service was more than sufficient.
More recently, I had the chance to compare Amtrak’s service with the cell signal available on Metro-North’s Hudson Line up to Beacon. It was abysmal. Despite the dramatic views of the river, I could barely get my phone to send text messages, let alone load web-based services. For anyone trying to be productive, the Hudson Line seems out of time and out of place, and I’ve run into similar problems along the Northeast Corridor route through New Jersey. The city’s underground subway stations, as we know, are slowly becoming WiFi equipped.
I’ve long been a believer that reliable WiFi can be a big driver of transit adoption. If daily commuters have the opportunity to be online and can hammer out an extra hour’s worth of work during their ride, such access can incentivize them to leave the car at home and hop on the train instead. Amtrak’s service is a good first step, and Metro-North has been threatening to equip their cars with wireless access as well. Now, New Jersey Transit is set to leap-frog them.
Earlier this week, the NJ Transit Board of Directors announced a public-private partnership with Cablevision to provide high-speed wireless internet access at stations and onboard trains. Cablevision will make this network available to NJ Transit riders via a dedicated, trackside Wi-Fi network, and the two companies say this is a first-in-the-nation arrangement.
“Through customer forums and surveys conducted as part of NJ Transit’s Scorecard initiative, we know that wireless internet service will be a welcome amenity for NJ Transit customers, enabling those who wish to remain connected during their commute to do so continuously,” New Jersey’s Transportation Commissioner and NJT Board Chairman James Simpson said in a statement.
Cablevision will shoulder the capital costs of installing new fiber-optics and getting the network up and running. The cable provider will also run the service for 20 years, and the parties believe a full system roll-out will be completed by the end of 2016. The initial phase will involve bringing service to Newark Penn Station, Secaucus Junction and Hoboken Terminal, three of the more heavily-used stations in the Garden State. Stations and rail cars will follow.
While Amtrak’s offerings and the subway’s new system are provided free of charge, according to other reports, only Cablevision customers will avoid a fee. Others will have to pony up if they want to surf while riding the rails. Still, for a modest fee, a reliable connection is well worth it for those seeking out the Internet.
8 comments
I find both Amtrak to DC and the buses that parallel Amtrak to Philadelphia have absolutely abysmal wifi.
A fee seems to be pretty standard for public wifi access in the capitalist utopia of Europe – though, most times I’m on a train there, I am not on long enough to feel the need to pay, and I seem to remember the fee was rather steep. On the bright side, it does seem to guarantee working service.
Amtrak’s non-Acela regional wifi service south of NYC is terrible, but I was on the Acela heading north. It’s an inexact comparison.
It’s terrible heading south on Acela too. However, it’s probably the cellular network, not anything wrong with Amtrak’s equipment.
(Last time I headed north on Amtrak from NYC, wifi was in its infancy.)
I just used the WiFi on the NE Regional from NYC to DC last month and had no problems whatsoever. Surfed most of the trip. Contrast that to when I used it on Acela a few years back and it was constantly in and out. Maybe I lucked out this time but for me it was a vast improvement.
Really? I use it monthly, and fine lots of dead zones.
I don’t think it makes sense to invest in WiFi anymore. It’s rare that I ever find mobile WiFi that’s any faster than my cell data connection on Amtrak, Megabus, or even the Time Warner WiFi that’s available in some parks and LIRR stations. Makes more sense to upgrade cell service along transit routes these days.
You seem to be confusing technology here. Cablevision will supposedly build a fiber network with dedicated wifi transmitters along the line – many times faster than average LTE service.
The reason the amtrak wifi moves at the same speed as your cell service…its because its almost the exact same thing. Amtrak is pulling in the same exact cell signal and spreading it out via wifi. Only difference is amtrak uses “mifi” receivers which have better antennas than the average phone, so they get marginally better service. The antenna is also outside the car, so theres less interference.
The MBTA has wi-fi on the commuter trains. It’s not the most reliable, but it generally works. Ditto Amtrak on the Regional north of New York: terrible signal, repeated disconnection, redirects to the “click the utterly pointless checkbox to connect for free” homepage that don’t always work. But it generally works, too.