A few Bus/Coach companies do offer this!
I've seen this on the 8/9 Services also. I took a similar picture but never for round to posting it!
The A1 and A2 also has WiFi and surprisingly power sockets for Cell Phones and Laptops! They actually work as well.
National Express Coaches have WiFi on some of their services also and it's provided by T-Mobile the only downside is that it frequently provides the message "Usage Limit Exceeded" it still works beyond this but subject to heavy traffic management (Although Grooveshark Music Streaming worked fine
)
Stagecoach also have it on their Swindon - Oxford bus services, Oxford - London Coach Service (Which also offers discounts to bus pass holders travelling to/from London. It's free for local travel on Bus Passes but not guaranteed if it's not booked in advance) like a seat on a train really
also their MegaBus Services have it on SOME vehicles and no discount is offered if its not available! They can't even guarentee a toilet! eek!
Berrys Superfast (Don't believe the brand name... Not quite as quick as other services
) have WiFi on most of their London Bound fleet which operates different services from Taunton, Yeovil,
Bildgewater Bridgwater and more recently Frome to name a few! (serves other villages/towns also) I rather like these services actually as it was much more comfortable than the 379?? Taunton - Yeovil - Taunton First Bus Service and was worth the small cost if the timings were right! You can get refreshments onboard, WiFi and a toilet. But don't expect a Latte or Executive Tea. More standard hot water and a tea bag or instant coffee. Also the toilet sometimes if it's the last run of the day can be a memorable experience for all the wrong reasons........
My opinion though?
The WiFi on most Trains and Buses is nothing more than a 3G/HSPA connection. Having truly unlimited data on my iPhone it's more often than not pointless using the WiFi as you are essentially sharing the connection with everyone else on the train. Some providers bond multiple connections on a single cell provider (Virgin Trains use T-Mobile). Some have multiple carriers again bonded and then linked to a central server to create a single point of presence such as Chiltern (necessary for some
SSL▸ Based Applications such Microsoft Outlook Web Access or Microsoft Outlook Anywhere which uses RPC over HTTPS to make outlook think its directly connected to the Exchange Server(s) ) as when you switch carriers your IP Address changes and SSL Based Connections don't like that at all and will drop/abandon the session!
My advice would be if you don't have a 3G Dongle or you've used your allowance then it's a life saver. Also the providers who charge in Standard Class and give it free in First Class clearly haven't considered the flaws in that system as there are a few ways to get free WiFi in Standard Class! Not saying it's right to exploit it. But in some cases it can be completely accidental if your smart phone joins WiFi networks automatically.........
But having both a Dongle for my laptop and a data allowance on my iPhone. Quite often I have found that bringing my own is much, much better! But if they provide it free and it works well enough. Then I'll save my Dongle Allowance.
A warning though, most providers e.g. Virgin and GreaterAnglia ban you if you use more than 40MB (I've had 100MB before encountering a kick off) Again they don't take into account people who know how to change certain settings in MY LAPTOP which will bypass such a restriction. Again, I'm not saying its right. But bear in mind that I am NOT tampering with the providers equipment. It's settings changed on my laptop only which I could have a perfectly legitimate reason to change and in some cases. Could be a necessary change!
