Best wireless carrier for Amtrak Silver Meteor

If you had to choose between wireless carriers going from NY Penn station to South Florida on Amtrak, which one would you choose?

I am wondering if anyone has used Verizon, Tmobile, Sprint and AT&T going on this route and how coverage has been between them,

Amtrak for wifi I believe was using AT&T so I am thinking this one may be best but I am not sure,

Guest said:

Amtrak for wifi I believe was using AT&T so I am thinking this one may be best but I am not sure,

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From my understanding of the Amtrak system, is that it doesn't just use one carrier but instead jumps around from carrier to carrier that provides the best coverage at any given time.

I can't speak for which is best on the Silvers; never taken them. Best I can do is suggest overlaying the route map with the various carrier maps & see which covers it the best there.

peter

Guest said:

If you had to choose between wireless carriers going from NY Penn station to South Florida on Amtrak, which one would you choose?

I am wondering if anyone has used Verizon, Tmobile, Sprint and AT&T going on this route and how coverage has been between them,

Amtrak for wifi I believe was using AT&T so I am thinking this one may be best but I am not sure,

Click to expand...

They use all the carriers for the WiFi and aggregate them. That does not matter for the trains to Florida since they don't have WiFi. I would stick with whatever carrier you currently have. If you have AT&T that will be fine. The Conductors ticket scanners are connected with AT&T so they have to have decent coverage along the route. I use AT&T and it works well in the Northeast and Florida. Never heard anyone with Verizon complaining about their coverage. Some complain about T Mobile and Sprint but again I would not switch carriers for your trip from whatever carrier you use at home.

The carrier route maps show coverage many miles out when there is none. I have multiple sims and an unlocked IPad but swapping them is inconvienient.

I know Amtrak was working on a wifi coverage system exclusively for Amtrak to cover the length of the rails but Im not sure what happened to the project. Cell phone carriers tend to cover interstate highways and heavily populated areas and the like so when your in the middle of nowhere its a given even with the best carrier coverage won't exist unless a wireless network was built out exclusively for the rails.

Yeah I agree, AT&T and Verizon are both incumbent carriers in the region, Verizon in the Northeast and AT&T in the south. Sprint and Tmobile are a different breed of carrier.

On my recent trip to Florida (Silver Meteor both ways), I used ATT and it was there whenever I wanted it. On the other hand, I am not a heavy user.

I have multiple sims and an unlocked IPad but swapping them is inconvienient.

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I would find paying for multiple plans more inconvenient than swapping SIMs. Perhaps that's related to my not being a heavy user.

I don't pay for multiple plans. I get free 200mb data from Tmobile, and Verizon and ATT are both unactivated and ready for prepaid should I need it. Tmobile coverage in NYC metro could be better but it does work well outdoors and isn't horrible. Indoors in some locations it does't work too well.

But Tmobile has more coverage gaps around the nation as you travel outside of metros where performance can work well. I personally don't believe coverage would be as good as AT&T or Verizon and is likely to cut off in places a lot more.

I use Verizon and am extremely happy with it on the Silver Meteor route. However, there are some places in Florida and Virginia where the coverage is spotty.

I use AT&T, and I find that the lack of coverage is usually in the Carolina's and is insignificant thank's to the schedule of the star-late night . Same for the auto train

Agreed that ATT works pretty well. Just back from round trip on the Meteor and while there were some "no service" areas, I was able to make contact most of the way.

Amen. ATT is great with a few dead spots on the Meteor passing the Georgia swamps and northern Florida south of Jacksonville. It will pick up again as you approach Palatka.