On 16/05/2016 19:42, Offramp wrote:
I really thought Eurostar would have free wifi by now. Perhaps the newer trains do.

The Velaros do (or at least the one I used did...), but not for the
whole route - coverage in France especially is very patchy.

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

Arthur Figgis wrote:
On 16/05/2016 19:42, Offramp wrote:
I really thought Eurostar would have free wifi by now. Perhaps the newer trains do.

The Velaros do (or at least the one I used did...), but not for the
whole route - coverage in France especially is very patchy.


I believe the e300s will also have free wifi after the refit. Remember,
until then, these are unrefurbished 20 year old trains.

On 16/05/2016 22:51, Recliner wrote:
Arthur Figgis wrote:
On 16/05/2016 19:42, Offramp wrote:
I really thought Eurostar would have free wifi by now. Perhaps the newer trains do.

The Velaros do (or at least the one I used did...), but not for the
whole route - coverage in France especially is very patchy.


I believe the e300s will also have free wifi after the refit. Remember,
until then, these are unrefurbished 20 year old trains.

If the refit ever actually happens.

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

Arthur Figgis wrote:
On 16/05/2016 22:51, Recliner wrote:
Arthur Figgis wrote:
On 16/05/2016 19:42, Offramp wrote:
I really thought Eurostar would have free wifi by now. Perhaps the newer trains do.

The Velaros do (or at least the one I used did...), but not for the
whole route - coverage in France especially is very patchy.


I believe the e300s will also have free wifi after the refit. Remember,
until then, these are unrefurbished 20 year old trains.

If the refit ever actually happens.

It's already started.

On Mon, 16 May 2016 23:43:34 +0100, Arthur Figgis
wrote:

On 16/05/2016 22:51, Recliner wrote:
Arthur Figgis wrote:
On 16/05/2016 19:42, Offramp wrote:
I really thought Eurostar would have free wifi by now. Perhaps the newer trains do.

The Velaros do (or at least the one I used did...), but not for the
whole route - coverage in France especially is very patchy.


I believe the e300s will also have free wifi after the refit. Remember,
until then, these are unrefurbished 20 year old trains.

If the refit ever actually happens.

Is it just the refitted ones that are in the new colours? Because I
was on one today and there was no WiFi. It was also overall rather
poor compared with the ICE I was on before that...

The SWT WiFi is (or was) broken because registration is done on an
insecure page. I made up an email address, of course.

The WiFi on that ICE was much better. The free version, from the
homepage, has real-time train info and Deutsche Bahn stuff, as well as
news. It is a beta service, but the original one is similar, just
less pretty. If in first class, the "login" link goes straight to
free internet, which seemed to perform well, until crossing into
Belgium when even the WiFi access point was switched off!

Our TOC efforts really do need to be better. At least take the chance
to inform passengers about themselves for no effort.

Richard.

On Mon, 16 May 2016 21:55:33 +0100, Arthur Figgis
wrote:

On 16/05/2016 19:42, Offramp wrote:
I really thought Eurostar would have free wifi by now. Perhaps the newer trains do.

The Velaros do (or at least the one I used did...), but not for the
whole route - coverage in France especially is very patchy.

The Sunday times journalist wasn't impressed by the Wifi
(http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/al...tar-8fhf9d06f).
(Not, apparently, behind a paywall).

On 17/05/2016 09:39, BirchangerKen wrote:
On Mon, 16 May 2016 21:55:33 +0100, Arthur Figgis
wrote:

On 16/05/2016 19:42, Offramp wrote:
I really thought Eurostar would have free wifi by now. Perhaps the newer trains do.

The Velaros do (or at least the one I used did...), but not for the
whole route - coverage in France especially is very patchy.

The Sunday times journalist wasn't impressed by the Wifi
(http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/al...tar-8fhf9d06f).
(Not, apparently, behind a paywall).

It is from here..


--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

On Tue, 17 May 2016 17:56:28 +0100, Arthur Figgis
wrote:

On 17/05/2016 09:39, BirchangerKen wrote:
On Mon, 16 May 2016 21:55:33 +0100, Arthur Figgis
wrote:

On 16/05/2016 19:42, Offramp wrote:
I really thought Eurostar would have free wifi by now. Perhaps the newer trains do.

The Velaros do (or at least the one I used did...), but not for the
whole route - coverage in France especially is very patchy.

The Sunday times journalist wasn't impressed by the Wifi
(http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/al...tar-8fhf9d06f).
(Not, apparently, behind a paywall).

It is from here..

How odd. I'm not a Times digital subscriber yet can access the article
using Edge, but not from Chrome or Firefox. I suppose it may have set
a cookie when I entered the open-to-all Where Was I competition a few
weeks ago.

On 16/05/2016 19:42, Offramp wrote:
I really thought Eurostar would have free wifi by now. Perhaps the newer trains do.

It is odd. On the English side the coffee shops and pubs have free wifi everywhere.
That stops at Eurostar, and free wifi is very rare in France.

Is it really "very rare" in France? I'm not so sure of that.

Under French law you do have to register, but I don't think this needs
to involve more than providing an email address.

Major stations have free wifi provided by SNCF.

On 17/05/2016 18:19, Mizter T wrote:

On 16/05/2016 19:42, Offramp wrote:
I really thought Eurostar would have free wifi by now. Perhaps the
newer trains do.

It is odd. On the English side the coffee shops and pubs have free
wifi everywhere.
That stops at Eurostar, and free wifi is very rare in France.

Is it really "very rare" in France? I'm not so sure of that.

Based on a week's holiday a couple of weeks ago, I would say wifi in
France is much rarer than in Romania and somewhat rarer than in the UK,
but rather more common than in Germany. One issue is that it is often
password-protected, which can cause language issues asking for it.

Croatia has a good system where cafes print the password on your receipt
(which comes with the order, rather than at the end).

France is not good at having obvious names for wifi, which often seem to
be things like pqr1234_94 rather than cafe_rene_free_wifi or
seaview_hotel_guest or whatever.

Something called Free Wifi (or similar) seemed to crop up everywhere,
but I couldn't work out how to create an account - the registration
button didn't work.

Under French law you do have to register, but I don't think this needs
to involve more than providing an email address.

I wonder how much traffic gets through in a day?

Major stations have free wifi provided by SNCF.

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK