Passenger Trains > Wi-Fi from the Cascades

Riding the Cascades. Understand that only the Mt. Olympus has it. Seems slow and only works in the #2 car. Fades in and out in the Bistro.

jb

jdb Wrote:
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Seems slow and only works in the
> #2 car. Fades in and out in the Bistro.


I wonder if that is perhaps due to interference with the Microwave ovens in the Bistro?

How well did the WiFi work on the Capitol Corridor trains when they were testing it? I'm wondering if Amtrak will try to reinvent the wheel, of if they will go with something that works.

Why is that Wi-Fi will work on VIA Rail's 50+ year old passenger rail equipment but we've yet to see it introduced any where on a regular basis on Amtrak's corridors? The NEC, Capitol Corridor, Pacific Surfliner, Amtrak Cascades, St. Louis corridor seem like natural corridors to establish such a service.

#500 turns in Seattle to become #507 and that is the train I usually ride back to Salem. So, I got the Mt. Olympus twice in one day. The Wi-Fi only works in the Business Class. It is slow. No announcement is made so nobody knows unless somebody from TO gets on board and goes looking for it. There are a number of daily riders (Oregon sells a monthly pass and a 10 ride) and some went back into Business Class to try it out. They were not impressed. One person has had AT&T and been using it for some time. He has one problem between two towers at Canby. What he has already is better than what AMTRAK is offering. Talked to somebody else that is a regular between Seattle and Portland. She has Verizon. Says Verizon has a couple dead spots but for the most part she already is connected.

One other thing just for grins. There is an AMTK secure channel while on board the Mt. Olympus. I was told that it is used by AMTRAK managers. It is hooked to a camera on the front of the train. You gotta know the security code to get on it.

jb

I had the Mt. Hood both ways earlier this week, so no luck. I did remember to look though.

jp1822 Wrote:
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> Why is that Wi-Fi will work on VIA Rail's 50+ year
> old passenger rail equipment but we've yet to see
> it introduced any where on a regular basis on
> Amtrak's corridors? The NEC, Capitol Corridor,
> Pacific Surfliner, Amtrak Cascades, St. Louis
> corridor seem like natural corridors to establish
> such a service.

I know on the Surfliner they had an experimental WiFi system set up for Business Class passengers on one car, I was able to use it from inside the baggage room in San Diego when I worked the ticket office if the train was outside... Seemed pretty good to me, but reportedly had some reception issues, which led to discussion about installing an external antenna but I haven't heard anything else about it since.

jdb Wrote:
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> One other thing just for grins. There is an AMTK
> secure channel while on board the Mt. Olympus. I
> was told that it is used by AMTRAK managers. It
> is hooked to a camera on the front of the train.


Is that because the Mgr is too lazy to do his job and actually ride the head end like he is suppose to?

Curious about the Technical details, is the camera in front of the train on a wire or is it 'broadcasting' for the Supervisor's use? Is it displayed on a cell phone or monitor or lap top-like display?

Also curious how the on-train WiFi works, is it only inside the car and then re-broadcast to the www via repeaters. Or is it directly to the land based repeaters? The Verizon and AT&T would be from the laptop to the supplier-owned tower through the sides/windows of the car. Curious how that works out, it sounds like it would be comparable to cell phone coverage.

TIA, inquiring minds want to know...
ATCS was a similar surprise.

jdb Wrote:
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No
> announcement is made so nobody knows unless
> somebody from TO gets on board and goes looking
> for it.

This made me laugh out loud. Not at you, but because it is so true! Foamers probably trying to upload their pics to TO asap, and trying to give train status to other Foamers.

TCnR Wrote:
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> Curious about the Technical details, is the camera
> in front of the train on a wire or is it
> 'broadcasting' for the Supervisor's use? Is it
> displayed on a cell phone or monitor or lap
> top-like display?
>
> Also curious how the on-train WiFi works, is it
> only inside the car and then re-broadcast to the
> www via repeaters. Or is it directly to the land
> based repeaters? The Verizon and AT&T would be
> from the laptop to the supplier-owned tower
> through the sides/windows of the car. Curious how
> that works out, it sounds like it would b
> comparable to cell phone coverage.
>
> TIA, inquiring minds want to know...
> ATCS was a similar surprise.

TCnR, I'm pretty ignorant about all of this stuff and I have the felling that people will put me on when they have the chance. That's why I'm kinda laughing at the moment about a camera on the front of the engine. If the "Landrocket" would say there is a camera looking forward, well then I'd be a little more likely to believe it. I do know that when I went looking for a WiFi connection with my laptop there was a secure "AMTK(xxx)" that came up. It looked like it was a Cascades engine number. I didn't go looking at the engine number of the train I was on.

The guy with AT&T says that he has been using it for some time between Salem and Portland. Says he gets dropped at one place near Canby. (Salem mp719, Canby mp747, Portland mp770) In looking at a map of AT&T coverage it looks good all of the way. In listening to a conversation about cell phone coverage I heard that there are two different technologies in use between Portland and Salem. If you stay put you can get good service at any point between Salem and Portland. The two technologies overlap near Canby. If you stay put you are in good shape but if you are driving (or riding the train) there is a spot where your phone doesn't know which tower to go to. That hi'cup doesn't bother the guy. He knows about it and works around it.

The Verizon person between Portland and Seattle says there are gaps of several miles where they can't get Verizon service on the phone. I didn't understand where.

As I understand the AMTRAK test service is only for the Business Class. In the Bistro (one car away) I could tell there was service but I couldn't stay connected. I went to the #2 car and stayed connected.

None of the agents you talk to at AMTRAK know anything about it. Or, what they do know they learned from TO. (there are some closet foamers out there that keep a very low profile)

My opinion is that if the service works as good for the guy with AT&T as it appears to, then I think AMTRAK management is wasting their time. They are going to get more complaints about it than anything good they try to do. I know a bunch of the people that ride the Cascades daily and they have their routine worked out. They don't need WiFi supplied by the Cascades Talgos.

jb

Well, if you had said it was a stuffed teddy bear holding the camera I would have thought twice. The freight RR's have started using forward looking cameras because of the expense of grade crossing litigation. I would think they are downloaded like all the other data that is accumulated. I can think of a few reasons why the story described would be desired, I know a lot of ways it could be done, it's whether somebody wants to pay for it. Just like Wi-Fi to surf TO, consider watching the Olympia cam as you roll by. Sounds like stimulus spending to me.

I'm using the WiFi on #500 right now just North of Centralia. I'm in the dining car, between the bistro and business class.

It's slow (think dial up slow), but it works.