All intercity trains fitted with free wifi

[Mark Gleeson]

Wifi should work on all ICR/22k trains nationwide, assuming all are actually fitted as Irish Rail claim. I have a confirmed report of working wifi on a Rosslare Dublin service.

The Blackrock to Killiney section plus Bray Greystones will never have good coverage due geography and even use of satellite would not solve this.

The coverage around Rathdrum is surprisingly good, but Arklow Gorey is poor

[dowlingm]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

The Blackrock to Killiney section plus Bray Greystones will never have good coverage due geography and even use of satellite would not solve this.

GSM-R for DART might be the ultimate solution, with the GSM-R bit being hardwired repeaters (similar to those deployed in subway systems) and then the telcos piggybacking. Question is when the shekels will be scraped together to fund that.

[Mark Gleeson]

Irish Rail's GSM-R contract does include a data option

[Colm Moore]

The trick is to charge the phone companies for deploying antennae on railway property. They won't charge any extra per minute to their customers, but will get extra revenue as there will be more minutes. Use that rent to off-set he cost of the wi-fi.

[dowlingm]

similar arrangement going to be done in the Channel Tunnel.

[DangerM]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Wifi should work on all ICR/22k trains nationwide, assuming all are actually fitted as Irish Rail claim. I have a confirmed report of working wifi on a Rosslare Dublin service.

The Blackrock to Killiney section plus Bray Greystones will never have good coverage due geography and even use of satellite would not solve this.

The coverage around Rathdrum is surprisingly good, but Arklow Gorey is poor

Hi Mark, on all Rosslare trains or just one, it has definitely not been available on any of the journeys I have been on. Can we find out for definite? I have contacted Irish rail myself but no response yet. It's false advertising. I use mobile broadband every day at the moment so I know the sections it should be available, even if the signal is poor it should still come up in a search for wifi signals and it never does.

[ciaram]

Originally Posted by DangerM

Hi Mark, on all Rosslare trains or just one, it has definitely not been available on any of the journeys I have been on. Can we find out for definite? I have contacted Irish rail myself but no response yet. It's false advertising. I use mobile broadband every day at the moment so I know the sections it should be available, even if the signal is poor it should still come up in a search for wifi signals and it never does.

I'm on the morning down sevice at the moment (9.58 ex Dun Laoghaire, carriage 22209) and can confirm that while there is wifi, the router isn't handing out IP addresses, so you just end up with a 169 address, so not much use really. I'm seeing two access points, same channel so I presume one ap in each end.

[sublimity]

Originally Posted by DangerM

Hi Mark, on all Rosslare trains or just one, it has definitely not been available on any of the journeys I have been on. Can we find out for definite? I have contacted Irish rail myself but no response yet. It's false advertising..

Indeed you hit the nail on the head - FALSE ADVERTISING.

Currently the 13:36 to Rosslare is a 4 piece 29000. Not sure about the evening services but I'd assume they are also 29k operated?

I mean seriously, is anyone else not ****** off that Wexford/Rosslare still has Commuter trains today?

In order for this route to grow, we need every service Intercity standard with the Wi Fi facility on board ( regardless of bad coverage in some spots)

[Mark Gleeson]

All ICR/22k services are meant to have wifi, as I posted I have a confirmed report from a passenger that they have used wifi on an ICR service between Rosslare and Dublin

Irish Rail's wording is 'intercity trains' and doesn't state all trains on a specific route are fitted. So if its a 29k (some of which actually have wifi too) it falls outside the description published.

Based on past experience and feedback from the ASAI (plus the wifi is free) no complaint would be upheld

[DangerM]

Originally Posted by ciaram

I'm on the morning down sevice at the moment (9.58 ex Dun Laoghaire, carriage 22209) and can confirm that while there is wifi, the router isn't handing out IP addresses, so you just end up with a 169 address, so not much use really. I'm seeing two access points, same channel so I presume one ap in each end.

Originally Posted by sublimity

Indeed you hit the nail on the head - FALSE ADVERTISING.

Currently the 13:36 to Rosslare is a 4 piece 29000. Not sure about the evening services but I'd assume they are also 29k operated?

I mean seriously, is anyone else not ****** off that Wexford/Rosslare still has Commuter trains today?

In order for this route to grow, we need every service Intercity standard with the Wi Fi facility on board ( regardless of bad coverage in some spots)

So is it only the new Intercity trains that have wifi then? The 05:35 out of Rosslare is a 29k and two out of the three back down to Wexford in the evening are 29k's too (16:37 & 17:36).

And, YES, I am very ****** off that we still have these commuter trains but no one cares except us idiots on it each day! I would at least like to get to the bottom of this wifi issue.

[Colm Moore]

Originally Posted by DangerM

So is it only the new Intercity trains that have wifi then? The 05:35 out of Rosslare is a 29k and two out of the three back down to Wexford in the evening are 29k's too (16:37 & 17:36).

And, YES, I am very ****** off that we still have these commuter trains but no one cares except us idiots on it each day! I would at least like to get to the bottom of this wifi issue.

It is on all intercity branded trains (the vehicles, not the services) at the moment. It will be added to Enterprise, Commuter & DART branded trains.

[James Howard]

At this stage I have given up on it and gone back to my phone - it is completely unreliable. On at least one train on the Sligo line it does't work at all - the network is there but neither my laptop, ipad or phone can connect to it and I can't see the login page. When it does work, it is glitchy and its failure modes are very bad - you see error pages from a Squid proxy,

Basically, I get a better service off my phone (three) so I'll stick with that. For commuters and anybody travelling for business, this sort of service is useless if isn't reliable. There is no point in turning up for a train expecting to get a couple of hours work done and then discovering that the service isn't working. If you have to back it up you might as well just use your backup.

I understand that the service is highly dependent on the quality of the phone network and there are large stretches of the Sligo line with no coverage such as between Mullingar and Killucan but if my phone gets a signal, then this system should be able to get a signal. It isn't even as if it is heavily used on the early morning service - most of the long-haulers are asleep on this train.

But it is excellent value at the price :-)

[Thomas J Stamp]

well, i can certifiy that whenever i have tried to use the wifi on the cork-dublin line its usually rubbish. in fact three times i have just closed the laptop and gazed out the window instead to calm down after the experiance.