Wi Fi on CONO?

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travelchick45

Train Attendant
Joined
Mar 20, 2016
Messages
38
Does the CONO have WiFi? I know when we were on the SW Chief a couple of years ago they had Verizon MiFi in the sleepers. Does the CONO have it?
 
We were on the CONO on 5/19/2019. We were told there is currently no wifi because the system that was being used wasn't very good and caused a lot of problems. We were also told that Amtrak is looking for another solution.

jb
 
As of this past April, I can confirm no WiFi on the CONO, Empire Builder, Coast Starlight, and Sunset Ltd/Texas Eagle, when I was in a sleeper on each of them.

On the way back from New Orleans on the Crescent, the WiFi worked well. It allowed me to find a low-priced App for my Android cell phone and laptop that uses the cell phones' data capability to act as either a Wifi source or USB direct-connection to my laptop. As it turned out a few weeks ago, the New Haven/Springfield MA shuttle I was on didn't have any working WiFi account they substituted CTRail commuter cars that day. It was a perfect 'confirmation' for the new software. Worked fine. I'm leaving Tuesday on the Capitol Ltd to Chicago and knowing that train doesn't have WiFi either, my cellphone 'internet provider' App will get a good workout! Of course, that's limited to areas with cell phone receptivity, so the mountainous areas will still have no connectivity.

I think it's safe to say that these days, with the exception of the Auto Train, all Superliner-equipped trains do NOT have Wifi. Thank you, Mr Anderson!
 
The only reliable wifi that I've experienced on any of those mentioned trains was when the SCA opened his own cell phone to be an access point and posted an SSID and password for their use in the sleeping car hallway. Still, the signal dropped in many remote areas.
 
I would GUESS that it's OK. Given the density of small towns and larger with cell towers, I'd expect cell phone connectivity would be perhaps 80-90%.

Contrast that to Amtraks' western trains where quite small towns along the line are 20-30 miles apart with one small cell tower. There, I'd guess it's connectivity for 3-5 minutes once every 15 minutes until the train approaches medium and larger towns.
 
I would GUESS that it's OK. Given the density of small towns and larger with cell towers, I'd expect cell phone connectivity would be perhaps 80-90%.

Contrast that to Amtraks' western trains where quite small towns along the line are 20-30 miles apart with one small cell tower. There, I'd guess it's connectivity for 3-5 minutes once every 15 minutes until the train approaches medium and larger towns.

I just looked over the coverage map for Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, and it looks like the coverage is pretty good along the CONO route. There are some brief sections(at least according to T-Mobile's map) with no coverage(mainly in southern Mississippi, and also a brief section south of Carbondale, IL), but honestly it looks pretty great for phone signal coverage as I see. And like you said, the western trains have longer stretches without any phone signal(i.e. eastern Montana just west of the MT/ND border on the Builder, parts of CO/UT/NV on CA Zephyr, etc).
 
I did a round trip from DC to Chicago last month. Westbound on the Cap and eastbound on the Cardinal. The Cap did not have WiFi, but the Cardinal had it all the way. I was surprised the Cardinal had it given the terrain in WV and the signal was very good.
 
Finally received a response from Amtrak customer service yesterday regarding removing WiFi from SWC. It was a form letter, to paraphrase it. WiFi has been removed from most long distance trains due to “lack of technology”. No plans to bring it back in “foreseeable” future.

Funny how Delta can have it at 36,000 feet over an ocean, just saying. Anderson needs to go ASAP.
 
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