laptop internet access

Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jan 25, 2010
Messages
9
Hello all,

Glad to join the forums. Been reading and catching up on all the great topics. My fiancee has started regular use of the Acela from Boston to NY for work and having trouble connecting her MacBook laptop to the internet connection. I've read all the Amtrak press releases and updates about the WiFi access on Northeast trains. I've also seen people in the train using their laptops with a USB card, and connecting successfully to their wireless phone's 3G network. In this case, AT&T. It's been more reliable for them.

Do you have experience with this?

Has anyone found a list of Amtrak train numbers/schedules that have the Wifi onboard? Wondering if there is a way to check before booking?

Thanks so much

RD

"sleeper car whenever necessary"
 
Hello all,
Glad to join the forums. Been reading and catching up on all the great topics. My fiancee has started regular use of the Acela from Boston to NY for work and having trouble connecting her MacBook laptop to the internet connection. I've read all the Amtrak press releases and updates about the WiFi access on Northeast trains. I've also seen people in the train using their laptops with a USB card, and connecting successfully to their wireless phone's 3G network. In this case, AT&T. It's been more reliable for them.

Do you have experience with this?

Has anyone found a list of Amtrak train numbers/schedules that have the Wifi onboard? Wondering if there is a way to check before booking?

Thanks so much

RD

"sleeper car whenever necessary"
I'm afraid that the wifi on the trains is not available yet. It is being installed and should be ready early this year. So currently, the 'tethering' of your laptop to a phone is the only way to get internet right now.
 
Hello all,
Glad to join the forums. Been reading and catching up on all the great topics. My fiancee has started regular use of the Acela from Boston to NY for work and having trouble connecting her MacBook laptop to the internet connection. I've read all the Amtrak press releases and updates about the WiFi access on Northeast trains. I've also seen people in the train using their laptops with a USB card, and connecting successfully to their wireless phone's 3G network. In this case, AT&T. It's been more reliable for them.

Do you have experience with this?

Has anyone found a list of Amtrak train numbers/schedules that have the Wifi onboard? Wondering if there is a way to check before booking?

Thanks so much

RD

"sleeper car whenever necessary"
I'm afraid that the wifi on the trains is not available yet. It is being installed and should be ready early this year. So currently, the 'tethering' of your laptop to a phone is the only way to get internet right now.
the Only train that has WI-FI is the downeaster but that's not owned by amtrak. they just use there equipment and crews to run it which is why its the only amtrak train in the USA that has coke. The maple leaf has coke but that's only after it gets on Canadian soil.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
While I'm not what you'd call a frequent traveler on the corridor, but I by and large do manage to stay on line when I tether my cell phone to my laptop. And I use At&T as my provider. He shouldn't expect lightning speed or to stay connected the entire way, but if all he's doing is some email work and light surfing of the net he should be just fine until Amtrak gets the Wi-Fi running on Acela later this year.
 
New traveler here and was just wondering if anyone can enlighten me on this topic - Why does Amtrak not have Wifi already on every car? Its 2010 and the airlines are even jumping on the band wagon. I'm no technical guru but get a satellite, a router, charge people 10 dollars a day and your set. I'm sure some company would be more then willing to set it all up for free to get a piece of the cut. Just saying.... whats the hold up?
 
New traveler here and was just wondering if anyone can enlighten me on this topic - Why does Amtrak not have Wifi already on every car? Its 2010 and the airlines are even jumping on the band wagon. I'm no technical guru but get a satellite, a router, charge people 10 dollars a day and your set. I'm sure some company would be more then willing to set it all up for free to get a piece of the cut. Just saying.... whats the hold up?
It's not as simple as you might think.

Like for example that satellite dish you mentioned. Where does one normally put a sat dish? Either on the roof, or outside a window. On a train, neither work well. Some tunnels have only inches to spare between the top of the cars and the roof of the tunnel. So there goes that sat dish. The same is true with hanging it outside a window. Additionally, if it's too big, then you can have trees, gates, or even another train ripping the dish off. Amtrak just had a diner wrecked by a door that fell partially off a passing freight train. That's how close things are.

And then of course, there is the ever present issue of money. If they can't find enough money to fix the coffee parts or the engines, where do they find the money for Wi-Fi?

All of that said, as other's have noted, Wi-Fi is coming to Acela soon and the Regionals should follow. I suspect that it will still be several more years before you see on the long distance trains.
 
New traveler here and was just wondering if anyone can enlighten me on this topic - Why does Amtrak not have Wifi already on every car? Its 2010 and the airlines are even jumping on the band wagon. I'm no technical guru but get a satellite, a router, charge people 10 dollars a day and your set. I'm sure some company would be more then willing to set it all up for free to get a piece of the cut. Just saying.... whats the hold up?
It's not as simple as you might think.

Like for example that satellite dish you mentioned. Where does one normally put a sat dish? Either on the roof, or outside a window. On a train, neither work well. Some tunnels have only inches to spare between the top of the cars and the roof of the tunnel. So there goes that sat dish. The same is true with hanging it outside a window. Additionally, if it's too big, then you can have trees, gates, or even another train ripping the dish off. Amtrak just had a diner wrecked by a door that fell partially off a passing freight train. That's how close things are.

And then of course, there is the ever present issue of money. If they can't find enough money to fix the coffee parts or the engines, where do they find the money for Wi-Fi?

All of that said, as other's have noted, Wi-Fi is coming to Acela soon and the Regionals should follow. I suspect that it will still be several more years before you see on the long distance trains.
what is so complicated about wi-fi that canadas via rail corridor trains has is(for a fee) and some of our commuter rails. the dish does not have to go outside the car. the downeaster the receiver was suctioned cup to the inside of the window and it worked fine. even MBTA has wi-fi and i see no dish on the outside. its not so damn difficult. charge people to use it and it will pay for itself via rail does.
 
New traveler here and was just wondering if anyone can enlighten me on this topic - Why does Amtrak not have Wifi already on every car? Its 2010 and the airlines are even jumping on the band wagon. I'm no technical guru but get a satellite, a router, charge people 10 dollars a day and your set. I'm sure some company would be more then willing to set it all up for free to get a piece of the cut. Just saying.... whats the hold up?
It's not as simple as you might think.

Like for example that satellite dish you mentioned. Where does one normally put a sat dish? Either on the roof, or outside a window. On a train, neither work well. Some tunnels have only inches to spare between the top of the cars and the roof of the tunnel. So there goes that sat dish. The same is true with hanging it outside a window. Additionally, if it's too big, then you can have trees, gates, or even another train ripping the dish off. Amtrak just had a diner wrecked by a door that fell partially off a passing freight train. That's how close things are.

And then of course, there is the ever present issue of money. If they can't find enough money to fix the coffee parts or the engines, where do they find the money for Wi-Fi?

All of that said, as other's have noted, Wi-Fi is coming to Acela soon and the Regionals should follow. I suspect that it will still be several more years before you see on the long distance trains.
what is so complicated about wi-fi that canadas via rail corridor trains has is(for a fee) and some of our commuter rails. the dish does not have to go outside the car. the downeaster the receiver was suctioned cup to the inside of the window and it worked fine. even MBTA has wi-fi and i see no dish on the outside. its not so damn difficult. charge people to use it and it will pay for itself via rail does.
The Downeaster and the MBTA trains run in a very localized area, that makes things much easier than a train that runs 1,500 miles, though deep canyons and tunnels. And I believe that both don't use satellite signals, they use some sort of cell signal, although I could be wrong about that.

If you were with us on Friday in Boston, you may recall that during the tour of the Club Acela Lounge, the Amtrak employee who took us through the lounge mentioned that the system that Amtrak had been testing for Acela had failed to pass muster. :eek: They had to go back and start over with a different approach. So I have to believe that it is a bit harder than we all think it is.
 
New traveler here and was just wondering if anyone can enlighten me on this topic - Why does Amtrak not have Wifi already on every car? Its 2010 and the airlines are even jumping on the band wagon. I'm no technical guru but get a satellite, a router, charge people 10 dollars a day and your set. I'm sure some company would be more then willing to set it all up for free to get a piece of the cut. Just saying.... whats the hold up?
It's not as simple as you might think.

Like for example that satellite dish you mentioned. Where does one normally put a sat dish? Either on the roof, or outside a window. On a train, neither work well. Some tunnels have only inches to spare between the top of the cars and the roof of the tunnel. So there goes that sat dish. The same is true with hanging it outside a window. Additionally, if it's too big, then you can have trees, gates, or even another train ripping the dish off. Amtrak just had a diner wrecked by a door that fell partially off a passing freight train. That's how close things are.

And then of course, there is the ever present issue of money. If they can't find enough money to fix the coffee parts or the engines, where do they find the money for Wi-Fi?

All of that said, as other's have noted, Wi-Fi is coming to Acela soon and the Regionals should follow. I suspect that it will still be several more years before you see on the long distance trains.
what is so complicated about wi-fi that canadas via rail corridor trains has is(for a fee) and some of our commuter rails. the dish does not have to go outside the car. the downeaster the receiver was suctioned cup to the inside of the window and it worked fine. even MBTA has wi-fi and i see no dish on the outside. its not so damn difficult. charge people to use it and it will pay for itself via rail does.
The Downeaster and the MBTA trains run in a very localized area, that makes things much easier than a train that runs 1,500 miles, though deep canyons and tunnels. And I believe that both don't use satellite signals, they use some sort of cell signal, although I could be wrong about that.

If you were with us on Friday in Boston, you may recall that during the tour of the Club Acela Lounge, the Amtrak employee who took us through the lounge mentioned that the system that Amtrak had been testing for Acela had failed to pass muster. :eek: They had to go back and start over with a different approach. So I have to believe that it is a bit harder than we all think it is.
Hmmm. Again I don't really know what I am talking about but i cant imagine its that much harder then we think it is. I mean i know you can get those wifi cards for the computer (which I am looking into) and planes are going much much faster and much higher and they seem to work fine. I wonder if it could work like satellite radio and you could simply wrap the antenna internally so as not to get smashed off. Sure it would go out in a tunnel but would be better the nothing.

My logic is this... I can browse the web on my iphone on the train so there has to be a way to bring wifi to the train itself.

Of well... it might be a great excuse to pick up a real book or talk to real people! :)
 
well wi-fi on LD trains is not really that important just give it to the stations so people can check emails during the stop. WI-FI on the NEC would be a HUGE boost sense the majority of people who use the NEC are business commuters.
 
Again I don't really know what I am talking about but i cant imagine its that much harder then we think it is. I mean i know you can get those wifi cards for the computer (which I am looking into) and planes are going much much faster and much higher and they seem to work fine. I wonder if it could work like satellite radio and you could simply wrap the antenna internally so as not to get smashed off. Sure it would go out in a tunnel but would be better the nothing.
Antennas don't generally work all that well in an metal cage (which is what a train is to an antenna). Sure, a cell-based solution works for one person, but it scales poorly to providing service for an entire train - there just isn't the bandwidth available there to be used.
well wi-fi on LD trains is not really that important just give it to the stations so people can check emails during the stop. WI-FI on the NEC would be a HUGE boost sense the majority of people who use the NEC are business commuters.
Trains aren't stopped at most stations on the corridor long enough for wifi to be useful, and the business commuters that need it all have blackberries or data cards already. Sure it'll be a nice to have for those of us not lucky enough to have a company-provided data card, but that day is coming.
 
maybe make the train car a antenna somehow. you know how some cars have the radio antenna embedded in the windshield. could the same work for passenger rail cars.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
As others have said, WiFi won't be implemented till later this year. I believe Sprint will be the provider. For what it's worth, I have a Macbook and an AT&T USBConnect Quicksilver and they work great together. On long distance routes, the speed drops down to EDGE in many places, but even then it's fine for my needs. I've used it a few times on the NEC between New York and Boston and it works great. It's not cheap, but it allows me to justify the time the train takes over flying, because I can get things done en-route. If internet access isn't an immediate, pressing concern, then I'd wait till Amtrak rolls it out later this year. Otherwise, I can vouch for the AT&T route.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
And I believe that both don't use satellite signals, they use some sort of cell signal, although I could be wrong about that.
If you were with us on Friday in Boston, you may recall that during the tour of the Club Acela Lounge, the Amtrak employee who took us through the lounge mentioned that the system that Amtrak had been testing for Acela had failed to pass muster. :eek: They had to go back and start over with a different approach. So I have to believe that it is a bit harder than we all think it is.
Alan,

You're right. The Downeaster service uses cell phone towers. Similar to what MBTA and bus providers have signed on for service. Satellite based broadband is much slower, high latency, and does require a lot more expensive hardware. I would think in the NEC the WiFi solution via cell towers will be a fairly quick implementation. I do wonder if they have had to put it out to bid, rebid, etc etc. which slows down the implementation.
 
As others have said, WiFi won't be implemented till later this year. I believe Sprint will be the provider. For what it's worth, I have a Macbook and an AT&T USBConnect Quicksilver and they work great together. On long distance routes, the speed drops down to EDGE in many places, but even then it's fine for my needs. I've used it a few times on the NEC between New York and Boston and it works great. It's not cheap, but it allows me to justify the time the train takes over flying, because I can get things done en-route. If internet access isn't an immediate, pressing concern, then I'd wait till Amtrak rolls it out later this year. Otherwise, I can vouch for the AT&T route.
Thank you - that is helpful to know that you have the QuickSilver and it works with your MacBook. We have AT&T, and the iPhone DOES maintain a good internet signal the entire ride from BOS to NYC. I've been reading about the Mercury USBConnect card and found some updated software that would run on OS X 10.6.

I really appreciate the discussion taking off like this. Very interesting.
 
Amtrak will be rolling out "FREE" Wi-Fi Service on ALL Acela High Speed trainsets (20) running up and down the NE Corridor from Boston to DC. beginning March 1st 2010. This is not conjecture nor a rumor. The system has quietly been installed over the past 4 months and is 100% operational. The Service provides access to the internet via a combination of (8) aircards from (4) different service providers. The CCU automatically aggregates the bandwidth and selects the strongest carrier based on the nearest tower. Car-to-Car Link is provided via a wireless connection through Access Points in each end of the car. It is installed on all the trains, it does work and it WILL be live on March 1st.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top