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You’re not imagining it, train Wi-Fi really is bad

It’s the bane of every commuter’s existence. You’ve set down your laptop on the tray table in front of you ahead of a long-distance train journey, expecting to get work done, only to find that the onboard Wi-Fi connection is patchy or barely working at all.

Half of UK train travellers surveyed by Transport Focus in July said they were dissatisfied with the reliability of their internet connection. Satisfaction with connectivity was the lowest of all the aspects the rail watchdog surveyed users about, and at 51 per cent, was 35 percentage points lower than overall satisfaction about train services.

The problem is so significant, according to a 2019 survey for the Department for Transport (DfT), that most passengers simply rely on their own (patchy) mobile internet connection rather than the train’s Wi-Fi. Just 4.3 per cent of internet data traffic generated during train journeys used onboard Wi-Fi, according to the DfT report.

And according to conversations rail expert Christian Wolmar has had with those in the industry, passenger usage of Wi-Fi on UK trains is around half the 50 or 60 per cent in continental Europe.

In part, the reason why onboard train Wi-Fi is so unreliable is that it’s not true Wi-Fi at all: it often relies on the same dodgy mobile data signals that i recently reported feel like they’re getting worse.

“There’s equipment on top of the train with half a dozen SIM cards on it for each network operator,” said Wolmar. “It’s supposed to pick up the best signal and create the Wi-Fi out of that.” Each SIM card acts as a mobile data router, gathering mobile internet signal in the same way your smartphone does, and then redistributing it to the users on the train below.

The issue is that 4G and 5G mobile internet connections aren’t ubiquitous across the whole country, with just 69 per cent of rural areas covered by all four major mobile networks.

Wi-Fi performance tends to be similar across network operators, but routes closer to mobile phone masts tend to offer more consistent connections than those that operate in rural areas, far away from network coverage.

Even if a reliable signal can be gleaned from the mobile data receivers sat atop carriages, there are other issues. Whatever data is available is often capped by the train operators, because they have to pay the mobile networks for the usage. “That’s why you can’t download films or have long Zoom conversations or whatever, because there isn’t enough data,” said Wolmar.

Beyond that, the paltry signal that manages to come through to a carriage encounters another issue, highlighted by a study for DfT. If you were trying to design a system uniquely made to try and limit the spread of Wi-Fi signal, you couldn’t do much better than a modern UK train carriage.

The materials used to make train carriages, such as welded aluminum, create what’s called a “Faraday cage” – which blocks electromagnetic signals such as Wi-Fi. Even the special kind of glass used to make train carriages better insulated can weaken the strength of Wi-Fi signals. How busy the train is can also dampen signal strength – and therefore speed – as the wireless signal has to pass through bodies to get to your device.

Once the smidgen of bandwidth that can be pulled from mobile phone masts to the train, gets through the data cap, gets weakened by the almost uniquely frustrating way train carriages are designed that specifically makes signal transfer worse, there’s a further problem: you have to share the little Wi-Fi signal that remains with everyone else on the train. “It’s limited in that if 20 people are using it at the same time to check their emails, it will max out,” said Wolmar, with only a hint of hyperbole.

“Train Wi-Fi brings together a perfect storm for connectivity providers and train operators,” said Paul Carter, CEO of wireless network benchmarking company GWS. “Trains are fast-moving, often densely populated, metal boxes.”

And because onboard Wi-Fi relies on increasingly questionable mobile internet signals – which are suffering many challenges – it can seem to many passengers that things are getting worse. Past surveys of passengers by Transport Focus suggested satisfaction with Wi-Fi connections was nearly 10 percentage points higher a year ago than today.

The technology is in need of updating but comes up against more fundamental infrastructural issues, such as punctuality and train performance. Indeed, the government told train operating companies in May last year to stop offering Wi-Fi service if it freed up capacity to improve other areas.

But change could soon be coming. The new Labour Government, alongside its rejuvenated plans for Great British Railways, a state-owned company to oversee all rail transport that has not yet been devolved, has an opportunity to change the bad reputation of on-board train Wi-Fi.

“Installing fast and reliable train Wi-Fi is not impossible,” said Carter. “An often-underestimated feature of this is ensuring that the network infrastructure as a whole is in good shape. This includes deploying a combination of wired and wireless connectivity solutions and utilising technologies like 5G, trackside small cells and even satellite connections to enhance network coverage and capacity.”

Doing so requires impetus, however – and an attitudinal change. “Wi-Fi on trains ought to become like toilets,” said Wolmar. “You wouldn’t think of running a train for a long distance without a toilet. Well ditto with Wi-Fi: it should be a basic provision.”

That would have other benefits, the rail expert reckons. “It will attract people back onto the railways.”

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