Cal. Zephyr have wifi?
- Thread starter Ronnie1a
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No long distance trains have WiFi, including the California Zephyr. The Capitol Corridor trains, which also operate through Martinez, do have WiFi.
Swadian Hardcore
Engineer
CZ does not have Wi-Fi. Easy way to find out: http://www.amtrak.com/train-routes
You know the Wi-Fi symbol, right?
You know the Wi-Fi symbol, right?
Nice, do you live near the Martinez station? that's the amtrak station I go too.
Just check the amtrak website, and you'll see the wi-fi symbol next to the train route.
Aloha
Going east about 10 years ago there were significant sections where I did not have any cell coverage, so I bet there are the same loss of wifi service.
leemell
Conductor
Actually the Coast Starlight does.
No, only the Pacific Parlour car has it on the Starlight; the rest of the train does not have WiFi. And when it is working in the PPC, and easily half the time it's not, it isn't very effective in many places. Especially in Oregon.
And I'm not sure if Amtrak will even continue to bother to try to keep it running in the PPC.
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One coach car did have it on a trip on the EB California Zephyr, though I could never actually connect to it. (It was named AmtrakConnect or something similar...I was in the next car over.) It's not standard (or even ever really seen, actually.)
leemell
Conductor
While I agree with you, Amtrak does list it as having wi-fi on the train routes with symbol next to it.
X
X
Guest
Some Superliner coaches had Wi-Fi installed in Los Angeles for use on Surfliner trains.
So of course Amtrak promptly grabbed several of them and stuck them on Long Distance runs, they've been trying to herd them all back to LA ever since...
slimchipley
Train Attendant
They seem to have enough trouble just keeping the PPC running.
M
Mike Shiflett
Guest
Here are my notes on Amtrak California Zephyr Internet availability from Iowa to emeryville (westbound). Hope it helps you plan. This was using Verizon mifi.
Border of Iowa to omaha almost nothing
80 miles North East of Denver good
Denver to about 25 west good
Spotty from 25 west of Denver to winter park
Winter park to Granby almost nothing
Granby to 10 miles outside Glenwood springs nothing
Glenwood springs to Rifle good
Rifle to Grand Junction service real good until abrupt stop 20 East of Clifton.
Service resumed 5 miles easy of Palisade. Good to 20 miles west of Grand Junction
From the i70 and route 6 intersection service is very good until 30 miles west of Green Valley, UT
Good 20 mikes from Price, UT
Winnemuca, NV to just NE of Fallon, NV good
Abeam Fallon to Reno good
Reno to Trukee, CA good
Trukee to 50 miles from Colfax good
Service again from Dutch flats to Colfax low signal but there
Colfax to Sacramento. Spotty until Applegate then solid and good to Sacramento
Sacramento to Bay Area - Good Coverage
Border of Iowa to omaha almost nothing
80 miles North East of Denver good
Denver to about 25 west good
Spotty from 25 west of Denver to winter park
Winter park to Granby almost nothing
Granby to 10 miles outside Glenwood springs nothing
Glenwood springs to Rifle good
Rifle to Grand Junction service real good until abrupt stop 20 East of Clifton.
Service resumed 5 miles easy of Palisade. Good to 20 miles west of Grand Junction
From the i70 and route 6 intersection service is very good until 30 miles west of Green Valley, UT
Good 20 mikes from Price, UT
Winnemuca, NV to just NE of Fallon, NV good
Abeam Fallon to Reno good
Reno to Trukee, CA good
Trukee to 50 miles from Colfax good
Service again from Dutch flats to Colfax low signal but there
Colfax to Sacramento. Spotty until Applegate then solid and good to Sacramento
Sacramento to Bay Area - Good Coverage
It seemed reasonably effective on my trip, and in the case of the PPC I strongly suspect it's a very marginal expenditure for the router and the link. It's the sort of thing that selling one or two bedrooms per year would pay for.
With that said, IIRC you can often grab quick connections at one or two of the stations between CHI and OSC (IIRC, Burlington and Princeton have grabbable connections, and I think I got lucky at Galesburg as well).
AKA
OBS Chief
Have not seen or heard, Abeam in a long time. Takes me back to Navy days.Here are my notes on Amtrak California Zephyr Internet availability from Iowa to emeryville (westbound). Hope it helps you plan. This was using Verizon mifi.
Abeam Fallon to Reno good
S
SeeBuyFly
Guest
You realize, I hope, that when you say "California Zephyr internet availability" you are in fact talking not about an Amtrak-provided wifi facility (the topic of this thread) but about Verizon cell signal strength. The fact that you were using mifi isn't really relevant, that's not a wifi signal available to other passengers.
AT&T is of course even worse than Verizon throughout the west.
M
Mike shiflett
Guest
Right. There is no Amtrak wifi on the Zephyr. You must have a mobile carrier device/phone to get it. There is a good app called Coverage? For iPad and iPhone that does a great job of showing mobile Internet coverage. They donypt have the Amtrak routes on the phone but you can at least see where you are and see the names of towns ahead to get an idea of what coverage you may get. I have asked them to consider adding Amtrak routes as they are built into google maps already. We will see on that. I'm taking the California Zephyr again In June 2013 from Chicago to emeryville so i can update the coverage then.
Again, don't expect any Internet service from Amtrak on any trains other than east coast trains and the coast starlight in California assuming any of that works on any given day. Use your phone or get a device from a mobile carrier if you want to have any sort of access at all.
I have an AT&T plan on my iPhone and a mobile hotspot from Verizon. For Amtrak it's too pricey to fit rail lines with wifi and for carriers there isn't enough users to do it either miso the best we get on most of the trains is wifi when the rail lines are thru a town or along a main road.
Good travels.
Again, don't expect any Internet service from Amtrak on any trains other than east coast trains and the coast starlight in California assuming any of that works on any given day. Use your phone or get a device from a mobile carrier if you want to have any sort of access at all.
I have an AT&T plan on my iPhone and a mobile hotspot from Verizon. For Amtrak it's too pricey to fit rail lines with wifi and for carriers there isn't enough users to do it either miso the best we get on most of the trains is wifi when the rail lines are thru a town or along a main road.
Good travels.
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