EMT WiFi - free in standard class

[David Pemberton]

Well it is if you are in a 5-car Meridian and you sit in the First/Standard composite unit. This post comes from Coach D on the 0648 NOT-STP and I've not had to pay the £4 charge.

(BTW have you seen EMT's charges, an annual season ticket for WiFi costs £425! How many 3G mobile boradband dongles could you buy for that? My PAYG costs me about £15 every two months.)

 

[brianthegiant]

except that 3g dongles dont work on 222s on most of MML due to combination of lack of signal strength and that you're in a faraday cage with smallish metallic tinted windows...

 

[Failed Unit]

Well it is if you are in a 5-car Meridian and you sit in the First/Standard composite unit. This post comes from Coach D on the 0648 NOT-STP and I've not had to pay the £4 charge.

(BTW have you seen EMT's charges, an annual season ticket for WiFi costs £425! How many 3G mobile boradband dongles could you buy for that? My PAYG costs me about £15 every two months.)

I have notice that Virgin have the same issue with the voyagers. I think it is coach D again (the one with the shop in - that is used for 1st class on the Holyhead services). I have yet to be asked for any payment in this coach so it either it thinks I am in first or I have some cookies stored from the journeys I have made in first.

 

[Deerfold]

Well it is if you are in a 5-car Meridian and you sit in the First/Standard composite unit. This post comes from Coach D on the 0648 NOT-STP and I've not had to pay the £4 charge.

(BTW have you seen EMT's charges, an annual season ticket for WiFi costs £425! How many 3G mobile boradband dongles could you buy for that? My PAYG costs me about £15 every two months.)

Those charges still work out well (if you travel at all frequently with them) compared with EC at £10 a day.

And as Brian says dongles are less useful on EMT - I think the geography of the line is a factor too as I have problems with them even when the stock's similar to EC.

 

[Invincibles]

I used the wireless in Coach D on a Birmingham to Scotland train, very useful thing and most people did not seem to head for that coach at Preston where I boarded.

It is inevitable though that if a coach is first class sometimes the system in that carriage will be designed to be free because you do not want to risk offending first class ticket holders any more than they already are by the essentially standard class seating.

On EMT they would be doing well to put a block halfway down a carriage, I just rarely use that part on the Sheffield - East Midlands Parkway trains I catch.

 

[David Pemberton]

except that 3g dongles dont work on 222s on most of MML due to combination of lack of signal strength and that you're in a faraday cage with smallish metallic tinted windows...

Yes you are right the radio frequency penetration into the Meridians is very reduced - one of the few plusses of the type in my view; the quiet coach really is quiet.

I have mobile broadband built in to my laptop. It seems to have better aerial than a dongle can manage, and I tried the "Three" network which was poor as it rarely roamed to a 2g network, however Vodafone works really well and switches promptly between 2g and 3g.

The other advantage of your own connection is that it works on the EMT HST stock, where there is no WiFi (and no plan?).

I've compared the performance of my built-in mobile broadband with the service on EC and there is little to choose between them, so even when EC was free I used my own service.

 

[WillPS]

I suppose £425 is a fair price - businesspeople who do an hour or two every day on the train will be able to stay connected for far longer.

On my one Pendolino trip I saw Virgin had boosted my signal - and my 3G (from Virgin Mobile/T-Mobile) didn't drop out once. Why didn't EMT implement this system?

Also - noticed WiFi equipment has started to be installed on 158s (I think - at least one of the central lights has been replaced with something similar looking to the Meridian stuff).

 

[Benno]

The other advantage of your own connection is that it works on the EMT HST stock, where there is no WiFi (and no plan?).

HST's are being fitted with Wi-Fi and the first set should be out in the next couple of days
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Also - noticed WiFi equipment has started to be installed on 158s (I think - at least one of the central lights has been replaced with something similar looking to the Meridian stuff).

There is no plan to fit Wi-Fi to the 15x fleet

 

[WillPS]

Any idea what the light fixture smack in the middle of the 158 I was on the other day had been replaced with then? It looked a lot like a beacon similar to those the 222s have?