Wifi on Iarnrod Eireann trains?

4zn76tysfajdxp · 29-11-2009 02:11AM #1

Hey, I'm getting a train from Galway to Dublin tomorrow. Do they have wifi?

Victor · 29-11-2009 02:15AM

No, GSM / 3g is your best bet.

They were concerned that investing in wifi would become obsolete almost immediately, so they held off. They have now re-thought that and and offering may be forthcoming.

There will be power sockets at each seat - just make sure you press the right buttons.

b12mearse · 29-11-2009 02:16AM

hold your horses boy! wifi is it? oh law di daw// feckin iarnrod eireann. jaysus

4zn76tysfajdxp · 29-11-2009 02:19AM

Thanks Victor and mikemac.

b12mearse wrote: »

hold your horses boy! wifi is it? oh law di daw// feckin iarnrod eireann. jaysus

Yeah, I suppose it was a bit of a long shot. Horse drawn carriages will probably have wifi before them.

mikemac · 29-11-2009 02:24AM

Langston Nutritious Dungeon wrote: »

Thanks Victor and mikemac.

I deleted my post pretty much straight away
Victor explained it better then I did

foggy_lad · 29-11-2009 12:15PM

irish rail decided not to offer wifi as most peiople have mobile midband from three o2 vodafone etc but they dont say that this mobile midband does not work along most railway lines unless you are in the dublin area! there is little or no coverage in kildare county and carlow/kilkenny is dismally poor.

Ham'nd'egger · 29-11-2009 12:54PM

foggy_lad wrote: »

irish rail decided not to offer wifi as most peiople have mobile midband from three o2 vodafone etc but they dont say that this mobile midband does not work along most railway lines unless you are in the dublin area! there is little or no coverage in kildare county and carlow/kilkenny is dismally poor.

I must say, I used my O2 BB on a west bound train 3 months ago and I found it to generally be as fast/slow as when I am at home in Dublin.

Sponge Bob · 29-11-2009 01:49PM

O2 is the best bet if you travel a lot by train on business ( I mean Dublin to _somewhere_ and back) , Meteor are possibly second best by now and Voda and 3 would both be a distant third.

bk · 29-11-2009 02:47PM

Just to explain, wifi on the train would also use 3G to connect back to the network.

Then why have wifi on the train you might ask, well two reasons:

1) Devices with wifi but no 3g could use it like PSP, DS and laptops without a 3g connection.

2) The 3G gear would be on the roof and would likely have industrial level large aerial, so reception and performance would be far better then what you would get with a 3g dongle.

It is funny back years ago when IR first said that they weren't going to invest in wifi, because technology changes too fast, I said this was rubbish and that they clearly didn't understand the tech. Well I'm glad to have been proven correct, with wifi now popping up in all sorts of devices.

I'm glad IR might be looking to reverse this decision, it was complete madness not to have wifi on a train in this day and age, specially with all the new motorways opening, you need all the advantages you can get to compete with the car.

The other decision they need to rexamine is the lack of power points on the Cork To Dublin train (yes I know about the one at the end of the carriage). They really need to fit power points to all seats on the Cork to Dublin train.

Victor · 29-11-2009 08:47PM

Rail users Ireland thread: http://www.railusers.ie/forum/showthread.php?t=4320

mayhem# · 05-01-2010 01:38PM

http://www.airappz.com/2010/01/airappz-invited-to-trail-wifi-on-irish-rail-trains/

JHMEG · 05-01-2010 07:53PM

Several of the private Dublin-Galway bus operators have wifi.

dingding · 05-01-2010 07:57PM

Got an internal flight in the US with Delta and the plane had wifi.

Used o2 on the sligo line and I found it OK, a lot better than 3 which was very poor between mullingar and Sligo

dazberry · 05-04-2010 07:06PM

I was on a Dublin - Cork train on Saturday which had Wifi. Wasn't too great either, same issues as my 3 dongle in that there are areas of poor coverage on the route.

D.

monument · 05-04-2010 09:56PM

foggy_lad wrote: »

irish rail decided not to offer wifi as most peiople have mobile midband from three o2 vodafone etc but they dont say that this mobile midband does not work along most railway lines unless you are in the dublin area! there is little or no coverage in kildare county and carlow/kilkenny is dismally poor.

I use the O2 3G/Edge network (tethering from and on the iPhone) on the line from Ballina to Dublin and it works on most of the line. Patchy in parts, but generally works.

You'd expect it to cut out in parts of Mayo, but like you said Kildare can also be problematic. On sections of the line used by Cork, Galway, Mayo, etc intercity trains as well as commuter services. Craziness on O2's part.

Victor · 05-04-2010 10:09PM

Is that down to terrain? Central Mayo being quite open and a lot of Kildare being in cuttings or among low hills.

monument · 05-04-2010 10:30PM

Victor wrote: »

Is that down to terrain? Central Mayo being quite open and a lot of Kildare being in cuttings or among low hills.

Could be. I'll keep a better eye out next time.

drunkmonkey · 05-04-2010 10:36PM

dazberry wrote: »

I was on a Dublin - Cork train on Saturday which had Wifi.

Were you in a special carriage? I was on cork/dublin on Thursday and dublin/cork tonight and I couldn't pick up any wifi network on the train.

dazberry · 05-04-2010 10:53PM

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Were you in a special carriage? I was on cork/dublin on Thursday and dublin/cork tonight and I couldn't pick up any wifi network on the train.

I was in the C carriage. Was in C also this afternoon on the way back but no wifi. I *think* the wireless SID was "Irish Rail", and when I connected a notice in conjunction with some company (can't remember name) explained the system was on trial.

D.

Victor · 05-04-2010 10:54PM

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Were you in a special carriage? I was on cork/dublin on Thursday and dublin/cork tonight and I couldn't pick up any wifi network on the train.

Its a trial and on only one train at the moment - 4008 I understand.

dazberry · 06-04-2010 10:05AM

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/15761/digital-life/free-wi-fi-for-irish-rail-passengers-begins-today

Free Wi-Fi for Irish rail passengers begins today
06.04.2010
Passengers taking the train between Dublin and Cork will be able to enjoy free internet access as part of a trial scheme being rolled out from today.

Iarnrod Eireann said free Wi-Fi connectivity for the intercity train between the two cities will be trialled for six months, after which a pay model will be introduced at varying rates.

Carried out in association with FleetConnect, who already supply wireless internet connectivity to several bus lines around Ireland, including Aircoach and CityLink, the Wi-Fi connectivity will tap the three major mobile broadband networks: Three, O2 and Vodafone.

D.

Chris_5339762 · 06-04-2010 10:41AM

Why must it be a pay model? Both Citylink and Gobus have free Wifi.

Its already more expensive to take the train, why do you need to pay above and beyond this for wi-fi?

smackyB · 06-04-2010 11:45AM

For those interested, the following services will have WiFi according to IE on twitter. May be subject to change.

"Free wi-fi available to customers on 16.00 Heuston-Cork today, and tomorrow 07.30 Cork-Hn, 11.00 Hn-Cork, 14.30 Cork-Hn, 18.00 Hn-Cork"

dowlingm · 06-04-2010 01:58PM

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Why must it be a pay model? Both Citylink and Gobus have free Wifi.

Its already more expensive to take the train, why do you need to pay above and beyond this for wi-fi?

The service provider isn't giving it away, so that means IE would have to bear the cost. That makes it more expensive for those with 3G cards or who don't want to use it.

garfieldsghost · 06-04-2010 02:06PM

dowlingm wrote: »

The service provider isn't giving it away, so that means IE would have to bear the cost. That makes it more expensive for those with 3G cards or who don't want to use it.

There's currently a tender out for retrofitting Intercity railcars with Wifi so that their systems can be monitored remotely. It would be very simple to expand that to include internet access for passengers but it would be a complete p!sstake if they charged for the service in that instance!

dowlingm · 06-04-2010 03:47PM

garfieldsghost wrote: »

There's currently a tender out for retrofitting Intercity railcars with Wifi so that their systems can be monitored remotely. It would be very simple to expand that to include internet access for passengers but it would be a complete p!sstake if they charged for the service in that instance!

The fact that the tender is separate from the customer trial indicates that IE Engineering don't want their diagnostic data on the same link as someone who doesn't remember to turn off their torrent client.

garfieldsghost · 06-04-2010 03:59PM

dowlingm wrote: »

The fact that the tender is separate from the customer trial indicates that IE Engineering don't want their diagnostic data on the same link as someone who doesn't remember to turn off their torrent client.

They don't necessarily have to share the same link. But seeing as IE are going to be installing all the relevant infrastructure to facilitate Wifi on their trains for this purpose, it seems ridiculous to provide the customer with a third party pay-to-use service. As has already been said, several private coach operators have no problem providing free Wifi for their customers...

dowlingm · 06-04-2010 04:46PM

garfieldsghost wrote: »

They don't necessarily have to share the same link. But seeing as IE are going to be installing all the relevant infrastructure to facilitate Wifi on their trains for this purpose, it seems ridiculous to provide the customer with a third party pay-to-use service. As has already been said, several private coach operators have no problem providing free Wifi for their customers...

It's separate tenders. One for passengers, one for engineering. IE isn't using any of the engineering stuff to provide the passenger stuff. What part of that aren't you getting? If IE decided to give flasks of tea to their drivers and guards at stops, does that mean Railgourmet has to start giving out free sandwiches and beer? What the bus companies do is irrelevant - they have a different business model and most of the competitive focus is on what the other bus companies are doing.

The real danger for IE is not charging for wifi, it's that the wifi will be crap and not worth the money. VIA Rail Canada switched providers last year and the new service was so bad they had to give it out free. With their old provider I was happy to pay $9 for a day pass when I was doing a five hour round trip, and the wifi was available in station waiting areas as well as the train.

garfieldsghost · 06-04-2010 04:58PM

dowlingm wrote: »

It's separate tenders. One for passengers, one for engineering. IE isn't using any of the engineering stuff to provide the passenger stuff. What part of that aren't you getting? If IE decided to give flasks of tea to their drivers and guards at stops, does that mean Railgourmet has to start giving out free sandwiches and beer? What the bus companies do is irrelevant - they have a different business model and most of the competitive focus is on what the other bus companies are doing.

The real danger for IE is not charging for wifi, it's that the wifi will be crap and not worth the money. VIA Rail Canada switched providers last year and the new service was so bad they had to give it out free. With their old provider I was happy to pay $9 for a day pass when I was doing a five hour round trip, and the wifi was available in station waiting areas as well as the train.

No need to get your knickers in a twist.

JHMEG · 06-04-2010 10:56PM

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Why must it be a pay model? Both Citylink and Gobus have free Wifi.

Its already more expensive to take the train, why do you need to pay above and beyond this for wi-fi?

Barry Kenny was on the radio this afternoon saying the wifi is part of the enticement to get people onto the train, and that will be taken into account when the pricing is worked out.

Barry doesn't seem to know it's already (as pointed out above) free on the bus. Thank the lord for private operators.

dowlingm · 07-04-2010 02:50AM

Business travellers can write off the cost and are unlikely to use the bus as an alternative. Aer Arann doesn't provide wifi and between takeoff and landing you can't use your laptop for half the flight anyway - that's the real competition here.

Wifi on Iarnrod Eireann trains?

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