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Irish Rail Wi-Fi

  • 24-07-2013 6:36pm
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 300 ✭✭


    Hi,
    Will be doing quite alot of traveling on the Cork-Dublin route in the next few weeks. To shorten my journey i was hoping to watch a few films via netflix. Does anyone know if you can stream netflix on their carriages?


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,291 ✭✭✭✭Gatling


    jod1983 wrote: »
    Hi,
    Will be doing quite alot of traveling on the Cork-Dublin route in the next few weeks. To shorten my journey i was hoping to watch a few films via netflix. Does anyone know if you can stream netflix on their carriages?

    No they block steaming sites such as youtube and so on to try keep the system uncongested apparently ,
    They have notices when you sign in to a browser ,
    Personally have found the WiFi next to useless for anything but basic browsing


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 300 ✭✭jod1983


    Thanks for that.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,291 ✭✭✭✭Gatling


    jod1983 wrote: »
    Thanks for that.

    You might get some posters with solution's
    We done a couple of weekend's with the kids using Irish rail and found bringing a tablet useless unless you've already downloaded movies or music to your device


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 563 ✭✭✭robclay26


    Hi all,

    Does the Enterprise service have the WIFI too? and power points?


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Wi-Fi, yes. Power points, no. NIR manage the Wi-Fi on the Enterprise so you're assigned a UK IP address.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭n97 mini


    Wifi on the Enterprise is really poor. For various reasons there is no coverage between Malahide and Newry, and hence while you will stay connected to the wifi you won't be able to access the internet.

    In general I have found that even though I'm on 3, like IE are, that I will have coverage longer on my phone than the train will. It's almost like they didn't install the 3G antennae when installing the equipment on the train.

    With your own sub watching Netflix on 3 is workable, assuming you have coverage.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 563 ✭✭✭robclay26


    Like lots with this county a service sounds good on paper but in reality it's ****e


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 23,276 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    robclay26 wrote: »
    Like lots with this county a service sounds good on paper but in reality it's ****e

    In fairness "mobile" broadband isn't really suited to high bandwidth video streaming.

    This is down purely to physics and available wireless spectrum and is pretty much the same all over the world.

    Free rail or bus wifi being limited to lower bandwidth services like email, IM, web browsing, facebook, etc. is very reasonable. Just one person using netflix/youtube on a train or bus could make it unusable for everyone else.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,401 ✭✭✭Nonoperational


    robclay26 wrote: »
    Like lots with this county a service sounds good on paper but in reality it's ****e

    Nothing to do with this country. Wifi on public transport has been flaky in any country I've visited.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭n97 mini


    It's not really flaky on the Enterprise, it's just missing.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 21,730 ✭✭✭✭Fred Swanson


    This post has been deleted.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 264 ✭✭eejoynt


    n97 mini wrote: »
    It's not really flaky on the Enterprise, it's just missing.

    Quite true
    We all accept that mobile wifi will not be the same as in a building
    However the enterprise wi fi is uniquely awful.
    Most of the time it doesn't work.
    It is much worse than irish rail, dublin bus Matthews bus etc,
    And what is laughingly called support is a call centre in Britain who have brought not caring to an art form


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,620 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    News alert: trains spend a lot of the time passing through relatively sparsely populated parts of the country where 3G coverage is poor or non-existent.

    Every time you look out the window and admire the green fields full of grazing cattle and sheep, you need to remind yourself that if you can't see a town or main road, there ain't going to be any network service worth talking about beyond basic GSM for voice and SMS.

    You can't expect the networks to provide high speed data coverage all the way along railway lines in a country like Ireland, it makes no economic sense.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭n97 mini


    coylemj wrote: »
    You can't expect the networks to provide high speed data coverage all the way along railway lines in a country like Ireland, it makes no economic sense.
    I think that was an unrealistic expectation on behalf of who bought the system. i.e. the mistake is NIR's/IE's, not the punter's.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,620 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    n97 mini wrote: »
    I think that was an unrealistic expectation on behalf of who bought the system. i.e. the mistake is NIR's/IE's, not the punter's.

    No mistake on the part of the punters? Come on. You don't think that a punter who's wondering if he can watch live streaming TV on a train all the way from Dublin to Cork is being just a tad naive?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭n97 mini


    coylemj wrote: »
    No mistake on the part of the punters? Come on. You don't think that a punter who's wondering if he can watch live streaming TV on a train all the way from Dublin to Cork is being just a tad naive?

    high speed data coverage you said. With FREE WIFI advertising it's not unreasonable to expect it to just work.


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 23,276 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    n97 mini wrote: »
    high speed data coverage you said. With FREE WIFI advertising it's not unreasonable to expect it to just work.

    Anyone who understands 3g understand it is very unreasonable, in particular for a free service.

    There is a reason 3g services aren't discussed on the Broadband forum and instead have their own forum called midband! Because 3g really isn't Broadband.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,346 ✭✭✭dowlingm


    VIA Rail also blocks streaming. They used to charge for wifi but then realised people wouldn't pay for crap but the mechanics of making it good enough to pay for (and some people will never want to pay) over hundreds of miles of network just wouldn't work.

    If the government gave IE the cash to do a full deployment of GSM-R then maybe IE could carry their own data from line-adjacent transmitters on a lower priority of service channel rather than depending on the telcos, not entirely dissimilar to how the Chunnel will do it. But that cash went to the bondholders...


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭n97 mini


    bk wrote: »
    Anyone who understands 3g understand it is very unreasonable, in particular for a free service.
    It should be better than what your phone can do in terms of staying connected longer, at least that was my unrealistic expectation.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 21,730 ✭✭✭✭Fred Swanson


    This post has been deleted.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,329 ✭✭✭✭loyatemu


    This post has been deleted.

    same here, particularly on busy services as wifi doesn't perform well in crowded environments.


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 23,276 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    n97 mini wrote: »
    It should be better than what your phone can do in terms of staying connected longer, at least that was my unrealistic expectation.

    It is a trade off. By having larger aerials on the roof and a connection to two or more networks, it should be able to maintain a connection to the 3G network better then a mobile phone.

    On the other hand it is then sharing that one or two 3g connection out amongst numerous people on the train, so you can suffer contention there.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭n97 mini


    bk wrote: »
    It is a trade off. By having larger aerials on the roof and a connection to two or more networks, it should be able to maintain a connection to the 3G network better then a mobile phone.

    But is doesn't. My phone loses 3G after the train, and gets it back again before the train does. I use the train a lot and I don't bother with the wifi any more.


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 23,276 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    n97 mini wrote: »
    But is doesn't. My phone loses 3G after the train, and gets it back again before the train does. I use the train a lot and I don't bother with the wifi any more.

    Well if that is the case, then the IR wifi system is badly designed our has some other issue.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,047 ✭✭✭trellheim


    The Cork-Dublin route is very spotty coverage south of maybe Portlaoise. I tend to get far better coverage off my own dongle but since it is usually using the same towers. However - and perhaps I'm silly - mounting a large antenna on the carriages might help ?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,346 ✭✭✭dowlingm


    I suspect the train acquires signal just fine. What's holding things up is the content control stuff, depending on whether that is handled on or off train - I suspect off unless they've got really fancy routers which can handle content control modules via an expansion port. Either way that's more latency than a straight out unfiltered 3G connection.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 264 ✭✭eejoynt


    English translation ?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭n97 mini


    dowlingm wrote: »
    I suspect the train acquires signal just fine. What's holding things up is the content control stuff, depending on whether that is handled on or off train - I suspect off unless they've got really fancy routers which can handle content control modules via an expansion port. Either way that's more latency than a straight out unfiltered 3G connection.

    It's all handled off train, and most of the time the problem is the train just has no connectivity. i.e. you can connect to the Wifi but the sign-on page, which is off train, never comes up.

    As my phone can maintain its 3G connectivity longer than the train can I suspect that the 3G antennae on the train are not external and probably no bigger than my phone's.


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 14,093 Mod ✭✭✭✭monument


    One of my biggest problems is that there seems like poorer reception between Athlone and Dublin than Athlone and Mayo!

    Lots of poor coverage where there's commuter trains, and intercity from Galway, Mayo, Cork etc.

    n97 mini wrote: »
    But is doesn't. My phone loses 3G after the train, and gets it back again before the train does. I use the train a lot and I don't bother with the wifi any more.

    Same here also on 3.

    Although in a limited amount of areas the train is better (Manulla Junction comes to mind).


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,409 ✭✭✭✭endacl


    coylemj wrote: »
    No mistake on the part of the punters? Come on. You don't think that a punter who's wondering if he can watch live streaming TV on a train all the way from Dublin to Cork is being just a tad naive?

    I don't know....

    I'm aware they block streaming sites to 'reduce congestion'. On the other hand, a couple of years ago I was on a bus from Tartu to Talinn in Estonia. Wifi on board and a flawless YouTube stream for about four hours. Most people on board a packed bus were online on a device of some description. This was on a bus, travelling through mile after mile of enormous wheatfield-lined single lane carriageway. Not a mast in sight. What do the Estonians know that Irish Rail don't?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭n97 mini


    So have we established that the implementation on IE does not seem to be up to scratch then?

    The 3G router/AP as used by IE is an Icomera X6, which seems to be widely used.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭markpb


    loyatemu wrote: »
    same here, particularly on busy services as wifi doesn't perform well in crowded environments.

    That's patently untrue - wifi can be made to work in extremely large scale deployments. The Super Bowl this year had a wireless network that could handle 30,000 simultaneous connections. Of course, it didn't work so well when the power went out....


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,349 ✭✭✭✭starlit


    Its wifi ok for general Internet usage. I say bring DVDs for your laptop!?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,329 ✭✭✭✭loyatemu


    markpb wrote: »
    That's patently untrue - wifi can be made to work in extremely large scale deployments. The Super Bowl this year had a wireless network that could handle 30,000 simultaneous connections. Of course, it didn't work so well when the power went out....

    Its not untrue - the more bodies on board the more signal is absorbed (and also the more devices sharing the bandwidth).

    As you say it can be made work - by using more APs, different frequencies (I believe the 2.4Ghz band is better in this respect than the 5Ghz band), fancier TDM technology but I assume IE have max 1 AP per carriage (I suspect its actually less than this). I've definitely found it works better off-peak than during rush-hour.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 200 ✭✭Granolite


    Agghhh...just read a book.

    5.6kWp - SW (220 degrees) - North Sligo



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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,024 ✭✭✭Owryan


    I ve found the wifi seems to be getting worse in recent weeks on the Dublin-Waterford line at least. Today it was almost useless.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,291 ✭✭✭✭Gatling


    Dublin to kildare on Saturday 30min trip give or take couldn't bring up gmail in that 30mins seriously are they using dial up or something


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,990 ✭✭✭Cool_CM


    Granolite wrote: »
    Agghhh...just read a book.

    I would, but I can't get my kindle to connect to download one :D


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Music Moderators, Politics Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 22,360 CMod ✭✭✭✭Dravokivich


    Cool_CM wrote: »
    I would, but I can't get my kindle to connect to download one :D

    You have to listen carefully with their whispernet service!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,829 ✭✭✭JackieChan


    Gatling wrote: »
    Dublin to kildare on Saturday 30min trip give or take couldn't bring up gmail in that 30mins seriously are they using dial up or something

    That's annoying.I use the train daily on that line and generally the service is pretty okay but there can be the odd day where there is no wifi signal at all or a very unresponsive one.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,291 ✭✭✭✭Gatling


    JackieChan wrote: »
    That's annoying.I use the train daily on that line and generally the service is pretty okay but there can be the odd day where there is no wifi signal at all or a very unresponsive one.

    That weekend it was horrible on outgoing and return trips,
    For further trips I've always found it at time's very slow and others you get a low signal connection , other times its actually usable


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