Amtrak Guest Rewards - WiFi available on several routes (and in select stations)

Although there has been a bit of discussion in one thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amtrak-guest-rewards/1271109-wifi-keystones.html), nobody seems to have reported Amtrak's announcement of greatly expanded free WiFi service. (I searched & didn't see anything beyond the thread noted above.)

The full Monty, taken directly from www.amtrak.com/wi-fi:

Wi-Fi? Why, Yes.
To ensure our passengers remain connected while traveling, Amtrak offers basic Wi-Fi service in select stations and trains throughout the country. Stay productive, or simply sit back and have some fun while en route to your destination. There are two types of Wi-Fi service you may encounter throughout your travels:

AmtrakConnect Wi-Fi - the Official Wi-Fi Network of Amtrak
Delivered free of charge, this basic Wi-Fi service supports general web browsing activities. Due to limited bandwidth onboard the trains, our Wi-Fi does not support high-bandwidth actions such as streaming music, streaming video or downloading large files. This official Wi-Fi network is available in the following locations:

Trains

Acela Express
Adirondack*
Amtrak Cascades
Carolinian
Coast Starlight - available for Sleeping Car passengers in the Pacific Parlour Car only
Downeaster
Empire Service
Ethan Allen Express
Keystone
Maple Leaf*
New Haven - Springfield Shuttle
Northeast Regional
Palmetto*
Pennsylvanian*
Vermonter

*Wi-Fi is available in select cars on this train. Look for the hot spot sticker on the window for verification.

Stations

Baltimore, MD - Penn Station
Boston, MA - South Station - available inside ClubAcela only
Lorton, VA
New York, NY - Penn Station - available in the gate areas and inside ClubAcela
Philadelphia, PA - 30th Street Station - available in the gate areas and inside ClubAcela
Providence, RI
Sanford, FL
Washington, DC - Union Station - available in the gate areas and inside ClubAcela
Westwood, MA - Route 128
Wilmington, DE - Wilmington Station


Other Wi-Fi Networks

Operated by carriers other than Amtrak, other Wi-Fi networks can be found in the following locations:

Stations

Boston, MA - South Station - available for a charge inside the main station
Chicago, IL - Union Station - available inside the Metropolitan Lounge only
New Haven, CT
Portland, OR - Union Station - available in Metro Lounge and limited availability in the newsstand waiting room area
Santa Barbara, CA


Comments?
For general comments or questions about Wi-Fi, we welcome your feedback.


Frequently Asked Questions

How do I connect to the AmtrakConnect Network?
If your device does not automatically connect to the network, follow these steps:
Step 1: Look in your list of available wireless networks for the following:

While onboard the train, look for "AmtrakConnect."
While in-station, look for "AmtrakConnectStation."

Step 2: Select the network name.
Step 3: Open or refresh your browser; you should see the AmtrakConnect welcome screen at this point.
Step 4: Click "I Agree. Get Connected" to proceed to the Internet.
You must complete all of the above four steps before you can access the Internet.

What kind of Internet speed can I expect?
Our mobile Wi-Fi network relies on bandwidth provided by cellular carriers who have towers along our routes. The bandwidth available from these towers is limited and our speed may not match what you are used to receiving from stationary Wi-Fi networks such as your home or office. Engaging in web activities that use large amounts of bandwidth will negatively affect the online experience of other passengers. When using our network, please keep this in mind and be respectful of your fellow passengers.

Are there any restrictions?
The explosion of the Internet and the use of Wi-Fi have created incredible demands for connectivity. To maximize the amount of onboard bandwidth available to all passengers, AmtrakConnect blocks access to streaming media and limits file downloads to 10MB. To prepare for this restriction, we recommend passengers download any necessary large files prior to boarding the train. In addition, this network restricts access to web sites with objectionable content. If you think a web site has been incorrectly blocked, or have general comments about the service, please contact us.

Is my VPN (Virtual Private Network) supported?
AmtrakConnect supports VPNs only onboard Acela Express trains. VPN is not supported on any other trains.

If I have trouble connecting, who can I contact?
AmtrakConnect does not offer technical support for passengers experiencing difficulty with the network. If you feel there has been a network outage, please report this to the train conductor. While our conductors are unable to troubleshoot your connectivity issues, they can report the possibility of an onboard outage to an offsite monitoring service.

Will you be putting AmtrakConnect Wi-Fi on any other trains soon?
Amtrak is continuously evaluating opportunities to implement Wi-Fi on other trains. Keep an eye out for future communications about this here at www.amtrak.com/wi-fi.

From a Facebook post today (http://www.facebook.com/railserve?sk=wall), it appears free wifi has been added to all trains on the Pacific Surfliner, San Joaquin and Capitol Corridor routes. Nothing official on Amtrak's website yet but others have commented that it's working. I'm glad to see this finally rolling out nationwide.

The wifi isn't really worth mentioning, because in my experience it is so slow as to be unusable on the NEC.

When I was riding in coach, there was a guy who was on his notebook for hours. He had an unlimited 4G plan. I somehow see that this will be a more popular choice for train passengers.

When I was riding in coach, there was a guy who was on his notebook for hours. He had an unlimited 4G plan. I somehow see that this will be a more popular choice for train passengers.Sure, if you've already got a high speed data plan, you're probably going to prefer that to a slower service, regardless of how free it is.

Very slow. :td:


Good idea, but it doesn't work.

I see:
Sanford, FL
Lorton, VA

Which are the terminuses for the AutoTrain. Is wifi only available in the stations but not on the route?

And how wide is that pipe? I shudder to think what a crowded holiday time train, with everyone trying to access the wifi, would do to speed and connectivity.

I see:
Sanford, FL
Lorton, VA

Which are the terminuses for the AutoTrain. Is wifi only available in the stations but not on the route?

At one point they were doing a test in the AT lounge cars for WiFi, but I'm not sure if that is still ongoing of it things have been turned off. But the train in general does not yet have WiFi.

And how wide is that pipe? I shudder to think what a crowded holiday time train, with everyone trying to access the wifi, would do to speed and connectivity.

Not super wide, since it is cell phone based. One reason the video streaming and downloads are blocked.

WiFi was working with decent speeds, when in cell network range, on my trip to/from Albany last week. However, this is a train that doesn't appear to have as many business travelers on laptops as, say, the NEC, and it was also over Thanksgiving - and even higher leisure/business ratio of pax.

On my Empire Builder coach there were a lot of notebooks. But nearly all seemed to be playing dvds brought along for entertainment. Pretty good idea I think. Wished I had tucked in a few that are waiting for me to watch them.

Not super wide, since it is cell phone based. One reason the video streaming and downloads are blocked.

Wonder why I've had little problem watching Hulu or Netflix via wifi on board aircraft when they're powered by the same EVDO Rev. A technology used by Verizon and Sprint...

Wonder why I've had little problem watching Hulu or Netflix via wifi on board aircraft when they're powered by the same EVDO Rev. A technology used by Verizon and Sprint...

While I'm far from an expert in this area, in fact I thought planes used a different technology, but I'm sure that the fact that the planes are thousands of feet above the cell towers helps a lot. The train is lucky at times if it can hold onto a signal from even one cell tower. A plane at 30,000 feet has its pick of multiple towers with little to no interference.

While I'm far from an expert in this area, in fact I thought planes used a different technology, but I'm sure that the fact that the planes are thousands of feet above the cell towers helps a lot. The train is lucky at times if it can hold onto a signal from even one cell tower. A plane at 30,000 feet has its pick of multiple towers with little to no interference.
Aircraft wi-fi systems do not use the common carrier, land-based cellular sites. The land-based system used on aircraft (GoGo) uses 106 aircraft-dedicated antenna sites located and configured specifically for inflight reception. Certainly the absence of line-of-sight interference is a big plus for aircraft reception of the GoGo signal.

The other inflight systems are satellite based with the advantage that they are available over the oceans. I have wondered if a satellite system would be a better fit for Amtrak. If a car can get good satellite radio reception, I would think that a train would have reasonable success in getting a good satellite data link.

Amtrak providing free Wi-Fi is nice, but only if it works well. I'm not sure that bad Wi-Fi is actually better than no Wi-Fi. I am willing to pay to get good inflight Wi-Fi, and would be willing to do the same on Amtrak if it was a reliable, high-speed connection.

While I'm far from an expert in this area, in fact I thought planes used a different technology, but I'm sure that the fact that the planes are thousands of feet above the cell towers helps a lot. The train is lucky at times if it can hold onto a signal from even one cell tower. A plane at 30,000 feet has its pick of multiple towers with little to no interference.

Aircraft wi-fi systems do not use the common carrier, land-based cellular sites. The land-based system used on aircraft (GoGo) uses 106 aircraft-dedicated antenna sites located and configured specifically for inflight reception. Certainly the absence of line-of-sight interference is a big plus for aircraft reception of the GoGo signal.

Correct; Gogo uses standard-issue EVDO Rev. A. Up until their recent announcement to move towards a satellite-based system, their plans were to expand to using EVDO Rev. B.

PHLviaUS may be correct that the fact the airwaves are less contended because Gogo is specific only to air traffic may be correct, but I don't know. At any given time, a single Gogo cell tower may be serving 10 aircraft (assuming there are 4,000 aircraft over the U.S. at any given time and that 25% of them are equipped with on-board wifi and there are 106 Gogo cell towers) and actively serving 400 people (each with an average of 160 passengers, 25% of whom are using the on-board wifi). How does that compare with the average number of people using a given land-based cell tower? From what I've read, the average land-based cell serves less--about 250-300 concurrent active users at any given time. So the speeds should be comparable.

I suspect the biggest difference is that on Amtrak the 100 people on-board trying to use wifi are all sharing a single cellular radio. One person's Mifi has an equal standing as Amtrak's cellular card serving 100 people, so when that Mifi is downloading a video stream, Amtrak's bandwidth is cut in half. Ten Mifis reduces Amtrak's bandwidth to 10%. 100 Mifis occupying the cell reduces Amtrak's bandwidth to 1%. On an airline, one aircraft's cellular radio is only competing with 9 others, all serving an equal number of people (so one person isn't competing with one radio serving 100 people). In order to fight this, Amtrak really needs to get buy-in from the cellular providers to give Amtrak priority over other cellular modems.