How does train wifi work and why is it under threat in England?
Wifi for train passengers in England may be axed as the government seeks to cut costs. The move is being pushed by Department for Transport in order to cut costs as it looks to “reform all aspects of the railway” and provide “value for money”. But how does it work, and will this prove a false economy?
Most train wifi ultimately depends on the broader mobile communications network. The train’s antennae pick up the signal – usually 3G or 4G – from regular masts or base stations near the tracks and connects passengers via routers in carriages.
Establishing a wifi connection is straightforward on most trains. However, the actual speed or connectivity to the internet depends on the network signal and how the bandwidth is divided up between how many users.
That is what the DfT seems to be hoping. But there are several practical reasons why this does not work.
While train wifi and phones are affected by patchy network coverage – particularly in rural areas – train antennae outside the metal carriages usually perform far better, and in places can connect via networks in tunnels or to station wifi.
Aggregating the demand through one connection or gateway to the train should work better for more people overall, with train wifi systems working to maximise and smooth connectivity from different mobile networks, satellite or wifi. While a growing number of people have access to modern smartphones with unlimited data packages, many still prefer or need wifi.
Long-distance operators provided basic, paid-for wifi as early as 2004, and franchisees were even fined for failing to install it on trains in 2010. Faster and free wifi was rolled out across most trains after 2014, using a £50m fine levied on Network Rail for poor performance. In 2017,
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