Comments on: France: trains with Wifi connection on board

By: N97 ohne Vertrag

N97 ohne Vertrag — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 15:04:10 +0000

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By: N97 mit Vertrag

N97 mit Vertrag — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:52:22 +0000

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By: Jonathan P. Marks

Jonathan P. Marks — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:26:03 +0000

Six months later and Thalys still has not put power into all first class coaches…and forget about trying to swap seats. Travelled to Paris 11 December – no hot food because the fridge had broken and no power in coach 11. These guys are still in the 20th century.

By: Sebastian Moeys

Sebastian Moeys — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:57:09 +0000

Well, I’m on the way back and this train does have WiFi. Works flawlessly and it’s free if you’re in first class.

By: Sebastian Moeys

Sebastian Moeys — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:26:38 +0000

@ Peter Robinett,

Not really. In some Thalys trains (Amsterdam – Paris) free WiFi is being tested, so they say, but not on the train I was on today. It shouldn’t become fully operational until this summer.

Most Thalys first class seats have 220V outlets though, and if you’re unlucky they’ll probably allow you to switch to a seat in a different coach.

By: Peter Robinett

Peter Robinett — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:34:17 +0000

Thalys Business Class claims to have 220 V outlets and free WiFi…

By: René Spronk

René Spronk — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:09:58 +0000

The German railways (Die Bahn) have been testing this since 2006, joint with T-Mobile. The system is fully operational (and appearantly very reliable) on a number of hi-speed ICE trains.

The cost is the regular fee one pays to get access to T-Mobile wifi in Germany, irrespective of whether one uses the account on board a train or whilst in a hotel/cafe.

See http://www.bahn.de/p/view/mobilitaet/zug/railnet.shtml (in german) for details.

By: Jonathan Marks

Jonathan Marks — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:39:16 +0000

Indeed I saw the results of the ProRail trials. I don’t think it was just financial. They were worried about people breaking into the network and viruses. Yet my son travels to Amsterdam every day on the bus with free wifi as part of the ticket. Brilliant.

Dutch railways – and Thalys – will have to spend quite a bit to get back on track. Not all coaches, even in First, have 220 Volt sockets (handy to recharge). And Thalys still can’t offer me a service whereby I can print out tickets at home and pick a seat next to a colleague (like on the airplane). I have had too many bad experiences to say that the train is much better than the plane.

By: Mads Kristensen

Mads Kristensen — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:14:40 +0000

Tests are currently taking place in Denmark, where you can get wireless access on 14 (I think it is) daily trains from DSB running out of Copenhagen and to the Western part of Zealand. The service built in co-op with Danish telco TDC supposedly OK, but it is coughing a bit with a lot of simultanous users. So that’s not the issue.

No, the issue is pricing: About 4,5€ for 30 minutes. For a commuter like me thats just plain silly, hence I don’t use it.

What they really should do was put an add-on to a commuter card, where you could pay fx 50€ extra per month and get free wireless access in the train. That would make sense to me (even though of course I would like it to be completely free.

By: Eric Bun

Eric Bun — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:13:55 +0000

In the Netherlands, the NS (the dutch railway operator) also tried to embed Wi-Fi networks in the trains. Unfortunately, implementation got stucked on financial issues. Hopefully will the success of SNCF (will it be?) catalyse the implementation of similar initiatieves in other countries!