All intercity trains fitted with free wifi

[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...319634909.html

All intercity trains fitted with free wifi
CONOR POPE, Consumer Affairs Correspondent

THE TEDIUM of the train journey should be lifted for many passengers from this week after Irish Rail announced all its intercity trains are now equipped with free wifi.

The company introduced the service, which offers download speeds of up to 3.5 megabytes per second, on the Dublin-Cork service on a trial basis in 2010 before rolling it out on all services between the two cities last year.

Irish Rail now plans to introduce wifi on the Dart and commuter fleet over the course of the summer with the support of the National Transport Authority.

The Belfast Enterprise train will be online by the end of the year.

“One of the great benefits of rail travel is that you can use your travelling time productively . . . and giving our customers free wifi will only add to this,” a company spokesman said. Another improvement has seen carriages with plug sockets fitted at every seat so passengers can charge devices.

[James Howard]

I just noticed the network on the 0545 Sligo - Dublin train but I tried joining it around Enfield and it didn't work. I can't say I am surprised that it didn't work and Enfield has a very strong 3 mobile signal.

I'll try a couple of more times and see if the issue was just localised. I get a connection but a warning that there is no internet connection so it looks like the wifi is working but the system has no network connection.

[Kilocharlie]

Originally Posted by James Howard

I just noticed the network on the 0545 Sligo - Dublin train but I tried joining it around Enfield and it didn't work. I can't say I am surprised that it didn't work and Enfield has a very strong 3 mobile signal.

I'll try a couple of more times and see if the issue was just localised. I get a connection but a warning that there is no internet connection so it looks like the wifi is working but the system has no network connection.

It was reported a while back and I encountered it once is that the Wifi may be available but not yet connected to the internet. Was there a WiFi sticker at the end of the carraige?

Most trains out of Heuston has active and workin Wifi

[James Howard]

I didn't notice a WiFi sticker when getting on but I wasn't terribly awake so it might have been there. So perhaps the Irish Times article means it will be in place by the end of the week.

[markpb]

Originally Posted by IrishTimes

All intercity trains fitted with free wifi
...
The Belfast Enterprise train will be online by the end of the year.

At the risk of being a pedant, it's not all the intercity trains if Dublin - Belfast won't be done for another six months. Still good news is good news.

[KSW]

I assume this includes Rosslare/Dublin line !!

[shweeney]

Originally Posted by KSW

I assume this includes Rosslare/Dublin line !!

according to this yes, but given the ropey 3G coverage along the line not sure how well it will work (there's no 3G at all between Blackrock and Killiney for a start).

[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishrail.ie/cat_news.jsp?i=4644&p=116&n=237

Free WiFi now on all Intercity trains - coming soon to DART, Commuter, Enterprise
09 July 2012

Iarnród Éireann has announced that all of the company’s Intercity trains are now equipped with free WiFi.

Already operating on services on the 67 carriages of the Dublin-Cork fleet since last year, the service has proven a huge hit with rail customers on the route. The equipping of the new 234-carriage Intercity railcar fleet, by Irish company FleetConnect, means that every Intercity route on the network now has free WiFi, covering:
- Dublin-Cork
- Dublin-Sligo
- Dublin-Westport
- Dublin-Galway
- Dublin-Limerick
- Dublin/Cork-Kerry
- Dublin-Waterford
- Dublin-Rosslare

One of the great benefits of rail travel is that you can use your travelling time productively, for work or leisure, and free wi-fi for customers will only add to this. Customers can use their smartphones, media devices, tablets, laptops and more while on their journey. Customers on the Intercity railcar fleet, which are now equipped with free wifi, also have plug sockets at every seat, so they can charge their devices as they travel for maximum convenience.

Iarnród Éireann is also planning to introduce wi-fi on the DART and Commuter fleet during the summer of 2012, with the support of the National Transport Authority. Furthermore, the company is working with Translink to equip the Belfast Enterprise train with wi-fi by the end of 2012.

This will make the Iarnród Éireann fleet one of the most wi-fi connected fleets in Europe, and is the latest phase in service improvements from the rail company.

Services are operated by the newest Intercity fleet in Europe, giving high standards of comfort on board.


Technology

Irish company FleetConnect has been chosen by Iarnród Éireann to provide broadband Wi-Fi services to its passengers on the Intercity railcar fleet, having already equipped the Dublin/Cork fleet. FleetConnect and its technology partner, Sweden-based Icomera AB, were selected to supply a complete internet access solution based on the market-leading Icomera X6 Mobile Access and Applications Router. The system is already installed on trains in the UK, Europe and North America.

FleetConnect and Icomera will be working with Iarnród Éireann to equip their trains with its industry-leading on-train broadband solution, which uses its patented SureWAN™ technology to seamlessly switch between and aggregate multiple mobile data networks to ensure always-on broadband connectivity in every carriage, for passengers, crew and onboard systems as the train moves through its journey.


Connecting to Free WiFi on Iarnród Éireann Intercity services

Connection to the system is easy, with on-screen assistance for customers on board. Simply turn on your laptop, connect to 'IRISHRAIL- WIFI' and open your internet brower.

Customers who encounter any problems can call the WiFi Support team on 01-8809600 (Monday-Friday 06.00 - 23.00) or email support@fleetconnect.ie

[Thomas J Stamp]

its wifi, i imagine, in the same way i have wifi at home thanks to a little gizmo i got from 3. it, of course, isnt any good if the 3G service it is connecting to is NBS rubbish. Since i live about 500m form the Cork mainline I can vouch for how intermittant and rubbish the 3G in north tipp is.

my neighbour got a very big satilitte dish from the NBS which i will have to get, for example.

there is also a general ban on all the fun wifi stuff, like the rte player, because of cost issues.

[Mark Gleeson]

The train box has modems for O2 and Vodafone and possibly others, it can take up to 8 different sim cards

It combines them together so you should nearly always get some coverage, so for most locations it should beat a usb stick modem

[James Howard]

I am sitting in Connolly station on the 1805 to Longford and have just tested it at 1.2 mbps which is not too shabby especially considering that my 3 mobile doesn't work properly in Connolly at all. Connolly issues notwithstanding, I find that 3 works reasonably well on the Sligo line so given that they should get a much strong signal from a proper external antenna I have reasonably high hopes.

The only issue I can see is that it is a mistake to rely on an honour system for people to steer clear of streaming services. As the great Mr Scott said, you can't change the laws of physics. It simply isn't possible to provide a 1mbps stream to 400 people on the one mobile connection so if people start to abuse it, they will mess it up for everyone.

It would be sensible also to block update sites for the more common mobile and desktop operating systems as lot of people have their machines set up to automatically download updates.

[dowlingm]

Originally Posted by James Howard

It simply isn't possible to provide a 1mbps stream to 400 people on the one mobile connection so if people start to abuse it, they will mess it up for everyone.

It would be sensible also to block update sites for the more common mobile and desktop operating systems as lot of people have their machines set up to automatically download updates.

+1, especially with iOS 6 due soon

[DangerM]

Originally Posted by KSW

I assume this includes Rosslare/Dublin line !!

Originally Posted by shweeney

according to this yes, but given the ropey 3G coverage along the line not sure how well it will work (there's no 3G at all between Blackrock and Killiney for a start).

So surprise surprise doesn't seem to be any wifi on the Rosslare/Dublin line, it's not a signal issue as it's not even coming up in the list of wifi's available for the whole journey. Can we find out what the story is please?

[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.