New GWR wifi limits?

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

After the wifi roll out I pointed out to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) that it was unusable only to be told their commitment was to install wifi on the trains - which they have done. The problem is now that the track side connections aren't good enough so need to be upgraded. Passing the buck..

Not at all. The connections are via mobile signals - 3G and possibly 4G. If you can't get any reception on your phone, the wifi won't work either. Do we say its passing the buck if your phone has no reception down the Berks & Hants? wifi is the same.

Blackspots exist between PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) and Reading, never mind the wilds of the Berks & Hants and elsewhere. THe only guarantee of coverage would be line-side connectors. If the telecom giants thought that there was money to be made, they'd be quick to install them. TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) can't. NR^» (Network Rail - home page) could share some of their bandwidth I guess but as they've looked at this & nothing 's come forward, I suspect there's a good reason for not doing so.

If you really *need* wifi, get yourself a dongle - but even that won't give bandwidth where there is none to be had. Satellite connections would be far better, but boy, they're expensive per connection. Until at least 5G comes along, there is no way to provide 500+ on a peak train with one decent connection each. I think education of this is needed.

I've seen someone with a work laptop, personal tablet & a phone!

And you were so nosy you ascertained that this person had connected all three devices to the onboard wifi? How did you categorically confirm this selfishness?
If you did categorically confirm they'd connected all three devices to the onboard wifi may I make a suggestion? Stop snooping. Mind your own business.

Oh FFS^▸ (for goodness' sake (a more polite definition)). More *assumptions* from someone who used to be a Mod. One can see why you'd not get an invite back, eh?

Maybe
I was with a colleague?
I was with a friend?
we'd struck up a conversation and I was being shown the possibility?

There are others, but these'll do for the purpose.
But you're right - not for me to tell them what I think the rules ought to be....but that doesn't stop me commenting here about it without being in any way nosey....

If I'd made that comment in reverse, you'd have reported it - so think before posting late at night please.

And you've never commented here on conversations you've overheard? the recent thread about others watching porn? I didn't see you call them 'nosey', did you? Same thing. Either you accepted that you can't help but see others laptops, or they're being nosey. Consistency please.

[TonyK]

Good discussion! And I have to report despite the wifi telling me it had a fairly strong signal and low utilisation it still didn't work. Which speaks volumes really.

After the wifi roll out I pointed out to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) that it was unusable only to be told their commitment was to install wifi on the trains - which they have done. The problem is now that the track side connections aren't good enough so need to be upgraded. Passing the buck..

This reminds me of a coach journey on an air-conditioned coach in Turkey. It was stifling inside.
FT, N! "Why is it so hot? It says this coach is air-conditioned."
Ozpay (Turkish driver) "No it doesn't, it says it has air conditioning fitted. I haven't turned it on because it costs money."
Although he did then switch on from time to time.

Bandwidth costs money, although money doesn't guarantee bandwidth as the many disgruntled passengers on other TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company)' trains who paid their money and still couldn't connect shows. Te point is made on this thread, one way or another, that many people on board will have more than one WiFi enabled device. Even when I am reading the paper, I have my phone in my pocket which may well have connected to a saved password from my previous journey. The debate should maybe centre not on whether GWR is rationing access to the internet to whether it is worth doing anything for free except saying it's there, help yourself, but it isn't guaranteed. Or should free access be timed, as happens in other paces? That might seem to discriminate against the longer-distance traveller.

We've identified the problem. What, given current technology, solutions are there?

[ChrisB]

As I said above, the most effective solution would be satellite connections. But at a quite high price. Guaranteed bandwidth, no blackspots unless in a tunnel, and possibly at stations with a roof over tracks - anywhere a line-of-sight to the satellite exists, it's on.. Basically, everywhere a line of sight exists.

They could put a router in each coach, but of course, that costs. Everyone expects free wifi these days, and that's partly the problem. Providing 750 DNS^▸ (Domain name service) connections with the bandwidth everyone expects is the other problem. Personally, I'd charge for it (by say, 30min intervals) & provide tip-top connections.

[Worcester_Passenger]

My experience over the years has been that the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) WiFi is a waste of time, and that I always get a better service by connecting via my mobile.

On occasion I've tried to measure the speed that I'm being offered using speedtest.net, but I've often ended up with the connection timing out during this.

I think that "WoeFi" is a more accurate description.

[Western Pathfinder]

Can we please keep this on the right track !
One of the many good things about comming here for me ,is the friendly way that we all get along with one another and usually we don't get problems with Spam and people slagging each other off .
End of my tuppence worth Thankyou .

[grahame]

Can we please keep this on the right track !
One of the many good things about comming here for me ,is the friendly way that we all get along with one another and usually we don't get problems with Spam and people slagging each other off .
End of my tuppence worth Thankyou .

A very wise investment of your two pence.

If a subject's really important to people, the importance to them can all too easily lead to normal politenesses being dropped. Interesting to see that WiFi connection from the train has lead to some unseemly posting and personal stuff that's very much outside Coffee Shop bounds.

Please cut the snarky comments ... they make others embarrassed to read and reluctant to post, as well as riling / upsetting the person they're aimed at.  They don't exactly show the person making the comments in a particularly good light either!

[Jason]

My experience over the years has been that the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) WiFi is a waste of time, and that I always get a better service by connecting via my mobile.

For me, exactly this.

[bobm]

I find the wifi seems to work for about 10 to 15 minutes and then loses its internet connection although remains connected to the wifi router.

It is like all these things in the free v paid model.  If you are not paying for it, you don't have much ground for complaint if it isn't working.  The same applies with the complimentary food on Virgin and others.
If, as ChrisB suggests, you do pay for it and it either doesn't work or is flakey you have a much stronger basis on which to make representations.

[ChrisB]

A satellite connection would be far less likely to fail.

Whereas a mobile internet connection will go down every time there is no mobile 3G coverage, and we all know how many blackspots there are out there.

I think this is one reason why TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) are happily going for the free model - one really has no reason for compensation...

[bobm]

I wonder what sort of price the satellite would work out at?

I know someone who has just returned from a cruise and was paying between £7 and £20 per 24 hours depending on what sort of access you wanted - basic internet messaging and social media, no email - email, web browsing or top of the range video streaming and calling.

[ChrisB]

Yep, I reckon that's pretty accurate. Broken down into 30min options, it wouldn't be too bad. Of course, the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) would need to recoup on the infrastructure required too.

[JayMac]

Oh FFS^▸ (for goodness' sake (a more polite definition)). More *assumptions* from someone who used to be a Mod. One can see why you'd not get an invite back, eh?

What on earth are you saying? I left moderation of my own accord, at a difficult time in my personal life. Those difficulties are ongoing, stressful, emotional, and take up nearly all my spare time. Moderation of this forum had to be sacrificed.

I was never invited to be a mod. I asked. I've no intention of asking again.

Maybe
I was with a colleague?
I was with a friend?
we'd struck up a conversation and I was being shown the possibility?

Maybe you were. But I'd not want to work with, be friends with, or learn later that the person I'd had a conversation with, was calling me selfish on a public forum.

so think before posting late at night please.

What has the time of day when posting got to do with it?

And you've never commented here on conversations you've overheard?

So, it's an overheard conversation now, rather than you seeing something you though was selfish?

[ChrisB]

So, it's an overheard conversation now, rather than you seeing something you though was selfish?

Your post just isn't worth any answer. Go read it.

[chrisr_75]

Wow, this is on the level of the playground of a local primary school. Please stop.

[grahame]

Wow, this is on the level of the playground of a local primary school. Please stop.

I have locked the topic.  Requests to cease sniping don't appear to have been accepted ...