Wifi on First Great Western

[HH]

And which planet is this on? Out in the Cotswolds most of the mobile masts are still using 2G kit, never mind 4G.

http://ee.co.uk/ee-and-me/network/4gee/coverage-checker shows that even the Cotswolds has quite widespread 4G coverage - much wider than that only covered by 2G.

 

[Andrewlong]

I travelled to Paddington this morning on an adelante from Reading in the rush hour and back on a HST tonight. Neither time could I get a login screen. Suspect if it's busy, you won't be able to get on - same applies to wifi at work!

 

[infobleep]

I travelled to Paddington this morning on an adelante from Reading in the rush hour and back on a HST tonight. Neither time could I get a login screen. Suspect if it's busy, you won't be able to get on - same applies to wifi at work!

My WiFi at work doesn't suffer problems. I also don't get problems using Virgin media at the underground stations.

 

[Parallel]

I have about a 50% success rate with FGW's wifi. Sometimes it connects fine, other times it connects but won't load anything, and other times it does not connect at all. Westbury - Devon/Cornwall seems to have particularly poor connectivity. Other times it seems to just depend on the unit. I suspect the problems with the wifi have meant they haven't bothered to actually advertise it in the MKIII carriages, because heavier passenger traffic seems to slow it down too.

I have not used the wifi on 180s, so cannot compare.

 

[47271]

I very rarely use their trains, but thinking back I did try getting on FGW's wifi once three years ago, on an HST from London to Bristol. Virgin had it, East Coast had it, even Scotrail had it a bit by then, so I assumed for one of the UK's major intercity operators...

I was delighted to get a fantastic connection at Paddington ahead of departure, but it turned out to belong to Yo Sushi.

 

[Michael.Y]

Isn't it an outsourced product over which the on-train crew and engineering staff have no control?

 

[jon0844]

My WiFi at work doesn't suffer problems. I also don't get problems using Virgin media at the underground stations.

I occasionally get problems on Virgin too. By the time I reach another station, I'll get the pop up there and be sorted for a while.
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Isn't it an outsourced product over which the on-train crew and engineering staff have no control?

I'd hope they could do a basic reset/reboot, although the system itself should be detecting errors itself and doing that automatically.

I read up once about the system used on VTEC MK4s once and although there are different versions of the hardware, I recall there were a range of systems to try and ensure it would fix itself. But it still depends on a range of factors, and perhaps in the early stages of implementation it is down to local AP issues.

 

[jimm]

http://ee.co.uk/ee-and-me/network/4gee/coverage-checker shows that even the Cotswolds has quite widespread 4G coverage - much wider than that only covered by 2G.

Well they must have plugged a lot more in very recently. Still doesn't mean that you will actually get a signal of any kind, especially along the Evenlode Valley, which just happens to be where the Cotswold Line runs.

 

[BestWestern]

Isn't it an outsourced product over which the on-train crew and engineering staff have no control?

Yes, it is outsourced, to Nomad. They have two guys who are allocated just to the FGW project (they are rather busy, I suspect). On board staff don't touch the kit, and so far as I know niether do the fitters.

I suspect the problems with the wifi have meant they haven't bothered to actually advertise it in the MKIII carriages, because heavier passenger traffic seems to slow it down too.

The wifi is advertised throughout the HST sets.

 

[HH]

Well they must have plugged a lot more in very recently. Still doesn't mean that you will actually get a signal of any kind, especially along the Evenlode Valley, which just happens to be where the Cotswold Line runs.

And that's why you wouldn't get any service on the train either!

 

[TEW]

Yes, it is outsourced, to Nomad. They have two guys whomare allocated just to the FGW project (they are rather busy, I suspect). On board staff don't touch the kit, and so far as I know niether do the fitters.

Judging from the website here: https://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/your-journey/on-board/free-wifi it is Nomad who have fitted the kit to the Sleeper and HSTs, and Icomera to the 180s and Turbos.

 

[jon0844]

Nomad built the system for Heathrow Express and some Southern trains (377s), which was ground based using WiMax. Icomera is satellite based for downloading, and mobile data for the uplink.

Both have strengths and weaknesses.

Wimax is dying out so perhaps the new systems just use mobile data exclusively. I think this means I should be getting in touch with both companies again to find out more and perhaps do a feature. It was many years ago when I last wrote about train Wi-Fi (on HEX).

 

[Rapidash]

I've used it frequently on HST's running around Devon recently. Main issue seems to be when too many people are using it at once.

Thankfully 4G is pretty decent around here.

 

[jon0844]

Once every network is supporting VoLTE and 4G can run independently of 3G (or 2G if the site has been upgraded to the latest software level) then you're going to see a MASSIVE transformation of 4G.

Most 4G sites are operating at 50% of their possible power to fit within the footprint of 2G or 3G, so when this restriction goes - wow.

VoLTE announcements are imminent and I've seen the new coverage maps from Three. It's like another 50% of the country gets 4G almost overnight. EE and Vodafone will be announcing any day too.

Only O2 seems left behind, and with such little spectrum, will never be able to offer the same speeds - but it should have superior coverage due to its licence requirements. (Paid less, but has to give higher geographic coverage).

 

[infobleep]

What is the direct link for the WiFi login page on Great Western Railways?

I keep finding lately that the WiFi on Great Western Railways doesn't work. This is on the North Downs Line between Guildford and Gatwick Airport.

It use to work but now I cannot connect.

Below is the screenshot I get from my Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge mobile.

With my Galaxy Tab S2 I had heen typing in gwrwifi.com to bring it up but perhaps that is the wrong address as doing that leads to a redirection site with rubbish adverts on it. No doubt spam. However if it's the wrong address, not sure how I got it on my tablet in the first place. Typing it into my tablet brings up a GWR connected page with that address but that could have been cached from when I did successfully connect. Seems odd.

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I just tired an incognito chrome browser on my Tab S2 and that came up with the agree the terms and connect but once I'd finished and it connected me, the Internet still wasn't working.

Alao in my S6 Edge, it uses a login screen so I don't even type anything in to connect. All rather bizarre.

In fact I just tried an incognito chrome browser using my S6 Edge and it redirected me elsewhere. So perhaps my S6 Edge has been hacked.

I can't easily ring Nomad, as I can't guarantee a long enough reception to make the call, as I'm on O2.

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