What's wi-fi like on trains?

May 28, 2009 11:12 AM

What's wi-fi like on trains? I need to work on the 5hr London to Scotland rail journey, and both National Express East Coast and Virgin are offering wi-fi. Are either of these services good enough to work on? The work I have to do is updating a US intranet via VPN (Nortel Contivity).

I don't mind forking out for the first class if it's a good service (I know it's free on National Express, but I'd need a power point which I believe is only available in first).

posted by forallmankind to travel & transportation (6 comments total)

In my limited experience, it's not great. You can get online, write emails, do some basic web surfing, but doing much more than that is often a frustrating experience. Also, I could be wrong, but I think that some standard class seats have power points on National Express as well.
posted by adrianhon at 11:59 AM on May 28

Also, I could be wrong, but I think that some standard class seats have power points on National Express as well.

This is correct. The wifi is adequate for browsing and email, but pretty sluggish. It drops out every time the train goes through a tunnel too.
posted by the duck by the oboe at 2:06 PM on May 28

National Express is hit and miss, but generally works, perhaps not to the speeds you would need to work over the VPN though. But it is free, so worth a shot.

There is one power socket per two seats on the wall, but you have to get it before the person who sits next to you or you'll be out of luck.
posted by tumples at 2:23 PM on May 28

What everyone else said. Used the wi-fi on National Express within the last month or so and yep, it would drop off whenever the train went through a tunnel. Quite slow and occasionally frustrating, given the sluggish loading of pages, but it was nice to have. I wouldn't want to rely on it for work (though I can't speak for Virgin trains, I imagine it'll be a similar setup).
posted by jaffacakerhubarb at 3:30 PM on May 28

I've managed to keep pretty good signal through trains from the midlands to london and all round the midlands with my mobile dongle (on 3) Maybe another thing to look at? alot of people have them now a days, so maybe you could borrow one to take on your journey and see. I was pleasantly surprised
posted by Tingle at 4:07 PM on May 28

I took a train from London to Glascow recently. The WIFI was pretty damn slow. Web browsing and checking my email was sluggish as well. Slower then doing so over EDGE I would say.
posted by chunking express at 11:13 AM on May 29