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house under the hammer Never seen or heard anything better than this – at least on the train. The Intercity Express, hurtling at 125mph from sunlit Berkshire to London Paddington, cuts through the BBC One daytime favorite sharp and clear.
In many respects, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was an outstanding engineer, linking London with the West through his Great Western RailwayBut their 19th-century designs thoughtlessly ignored the 21st-century need for decency wifi On trains.
Brunel’s beautiful stations, deep cuttings and (literally) unprecedented tunnels interrupt our enjoyment of Martin Roberts’s on-screen disagreement with a developer about the prospects of a flat in Northampton. The challenging terrain prevents many people from being able to perform any meaningful tasks involving the outside world.
The deeper you go into southwest England, the worse it gets wifiThis is why one Great Western Railway (GWR) Intercity Express, unit 802101, has been Equipped with technology pioneered by Formula 1 Racing – to be the train with the best connectivity in Britain.
Why is wifi so bad on trains?
Regular rail travelers generally find WiFi on intercity trains a serious disappointment. Staying connected to the outside world is difficult and frustrating, with many simply keeping their fingers crossed and relying on their mobile phone hotspot – which often turns into a “nospot”.
Steel rail trains have some “Faraday effect” which reduces the penetration of phone signals. The average traveler probably doesn’t want to do more than send a few emails and try to do some basic social media stuff.
“I think on most trains people generally give up,” says Nick Fry, president of the communications company Motion Applied. “You try to use your mobile phone as much as you can, but connectivity is often so poor that you don’t bother – you’d be better off taking a nap.”
Yet allowing passengers to stay connected while on the go is important for railways. To attract new business, the rail industry needs to show passengers that they can make the most of their time.
Increasing people’s productivity is the next best thing. “If you can’t improve journey times, it’s about improving journey times,” says Nigel Blackler, chief executive of Peninsula Transport. “It’s about better WiFi connectivity for both business users and leisure travelers.”
Andy Jasper, Chief Executive Officer eden project The man from St Austell in Cornwall says: “I’m often in London with my team. We’re always traveling up and down, and it becomes my office, it becomes my boardroom, it becomes my team’s meeting room, and actually if the WiFi is working, it’s fantastic.”
How does the technology work?
“We’re taking Formula One technology and applying it to WiFi on trains,” says Nick Fry.
You can imagine that top F1 driver Lando Norris has very little in common with the average commuter from Newbury to London Paddington at 1.33pm.
But the Motion Applied boss says: “There are some tough challenges with both. In Formula 1, the cars are moving around a circuit at very high speeds. There are hundreds of thousands of spectators, as well as media and cameras, on a Grand Prix Sunday, so the airwaves are crowded. This makes communication difficult.
“Trains are actually quite similar: they go fast, go through erosion, pass under trees, and carry a lot of people.”
The train seeks the best connectivity at any given time through a combination of Starlink satellites and 5G phone masts.
“This is fundamentally different to normal train WiFi systems,” says Nick Fry. “There are four pizza-sized boxes on the roof of this train. Each has antennas and a computer that works on the best signal. The boxes talk to each other and, unlike most systems, can connect to a satellite or a ground station – sometimes both at once. They analyze the signal by the millisecond to give you the best possible performance.”
“On this train, most people will be able to do their daily tasks – talking to family, taking team calls, watching a movie. This is truly transformative, and will significantly increase productivity.”
How much does it cost a passenger?
Nothing. Like hotels, airports and many similar places, the public expects WiFi to be free – and it is.
How good is the wifi?
Besides watching TV during the day, I also pretended to do some real work. I’m joining my coworkers for the weekly travel planning meeting. Independent It was simple; The audio sometimes goes off in the direction of Mars, but that may be an issue with our system.
Download rates typically measure around 70 megabits per second when traveling at speeds of 125 mph. This is the kind of speed (70 MB/s, not 125 mph) you’d expect to achieve at home, and it’s not bad for the office.
Upload speed is slow. While running, a 230 MB video interview with Nick Fry took about 45 seconds to upload to the transfer site.
Currently with railways, you will find the best connectivity at a Network Rail station. I’m writing from Paddington station, where a test recently revealed download speeds of less than 15Mb/s.
Between Newbury and Reading, the system logged me off, but got me back on within moments. The pilot will identify any glitches – and also assess how much passengers use the system.
When can I try the new GWR WiFi?
The nine-coach train, unit 802101, will serve all Great Western Intercity routes between now and January.
Mark Hopwood, managing director of GWR, says: “I completely understand that people want it immediately, but we still have work to do to understand how it performs, especially with large numbers of users.
“That’s why we’re running the trial – we want to learn properly from it. If the results are good and we complete the pilot successfully, then we can consider starting it.”
If the pilot proves successful, the government’s next step will be to invest millions of pounds initially into connecting all intercity express trains across the country, and later commuter services.
In your experience, which train operators do WiFi well, and which do poorly?
LNER The main east coast line between Edinburgh and London is an absolute winner – although you’ll need to upgrade to first class for best results. Greater Anglia also gives good results.
The ones I don’t like include the Govia Thameslink, which turns off the WiFi after you’ve used a fairly modest amount.
But elizabeth lineWell, the east-west link through central London was over-budget and delayed – but apparently not because they were spending so much time and money on WiFi. Whether in a tunnel or above ground, the online experience is irregular.
But the cost of communications is going down, so, as they say, things can only get better across the country.
Read more: These are the busiest rail travel days you need to avoid this festive season