WiFi is popping up nearly everywhere these days, and strangely enough the term ‘free’ seems to be used a lot when discussing WiFi hot spots that are not totally free. In coffee shops, the term free WiFi tends to mean that one has to buy at least one cup of coffee to enjoy ‘free’ WiFi for even a period of time, while free WiFi on airplanes is something of a misnomer since nobody could possibly use the WiFi connection on an airliner without purchasing a ticket. Cars are now being sold with integrated wireless broadband connections that are fed through an integrated WiFi router built directly into cars, and even Amtrak is getting in on the action, which might sound a bit strange considering the fact that they are an organization that specializes in trains and haven’t exactly been famous for their profit margins lately.
When most people think about Amtrak, they either think of east-coast commuters who happen to live a long distance away from their place of work, or perhaps of Vice President Biden, who may be one of the most famous Amtrak customers of our day. Few people tend to think of Amtrak as modern, which may not be an unreasonable view to hold given the fact that trains are an older form of transportation that significantly predates both es and automobiles. This perception may be exactly why Amtrak is making a bid to attract customers using free WiFi; even if their bid to attract significant numbers of new travelers fails, Amtrak may till benefit by slowly changing its public image.
How Much Will Amtrak Charge?
Amtrak plans to give WiFi away for ‘free’ to ticket holders, but that may or may not last forever. If the WiFi option proves popular enough and Amtrak’s image changes to one of an affordable and convenient alternative to flying, then perhaps a WiFi-charge will be evaluated. Even if an additional fee were to be assessed, look at the problem from the perspective of a hypothetical traveler from New York planning to visit Washington D.C. for a week to see if any fees would be worth it.
Amtrak tickets for such a trip cost $72 round-trip at the least, and that nets one a slightly-longer than 4 hour train ride. A search on Travelocity yielded flights that cost at least $139, but took just under 2 hours. Factor in the time that it takes to pass through airport security, and the irritating regulations limiting devices in laps during that last hour of the flight, and one is paying twice as much to work 3 less hours but saves 2 hours off their total trip time, though some of that will be reclaimed by security and baggage checking/claiming.
The total difference in travel times may not actually be much, probably less than an hour. The total difference in the amount of time that one could be working on projects or simply enjoying the Internet in some way is substantial: slightly over 4 hours for Amtrak customers and slightly less than one hour for those catching an airplane.
In this example, would it be worth the extra time to have less hassle and greater availability of WiFi? Some travelers/commuters would say yes, others would say no.
How Fast Will Amtrak’s WiFi Be?
It might be easy to poke fun at Amtrak for being slow compared to airplanes, but the company is mum about what type of broadband connection they are using. If their connection is similar to what airlines offer, then it should be reasonable fast, but it probably won’t set any speed records. On the other hand, some Amtrak routes see very few passengers, which means that network saturation might not be an issue. Having an business-grade wireless or satellite broadband service available with hardly anyone to share it with might sound appealing, but it seems unlikely that the service would be offered forever if it failed to catch on. Still, it would be nice to know more about the technology behind Amtrak’s WiFi, but it would seem likely that more information on the underlying technology will be available shortly.
When Will Amtrak’s WiFi be Ready?
Amtrak plans on rolling WiFi out to most of their east-coast routes by the end of 2011, with major routes receiving WiFi in the coming weeks. Anyone who has ever traveled with Amtrak probably knows that Amtrak operates a variety of cars with different amenities. Chances are good that WiFi will simply be listed as an amenity, and therefore will not necessarily be deployed on a per-route basis. Instead, WiFi is likely to be deployed to cars, but those individual cars will likely need to be on specific routes to take advantage of whatever broadband technology Amtrak will be using.
Other Reasons to Consider Amtrak
If the pricing and lack of over-zealous security weren’t enough to entice people to consider Amtrak, then perhaps these two facts will: Amtrak’s cars are actually very nice and comfortable, and trains may make a comeback considering that they have the capacity to be very green compared to airplanes. Airplanes seats can be extremely small, especially for those who do not fall into the lithe/petite frame categories. Airlines have recently started charging passengers they determine to be overweight additional fees to sit in cramped seats, which is not something that Amtrak customers have to contend with.
Additionally, trains of all kinds are essentially as green as their construction and power sources. With America’s power grid becoming greener by the day, there may be merit to the idea that using trains over airplanes is an environmentally sound choice. Of course, this only makes sense when the trains are reasonably full, which is something that Amtrak has been having difficulties with in recent years. Convenience paired with WiFi may be enough to constitute a compelling argument in this regard, but only time will tell.
