To think free wifi on trains is not a low priority for passengers?

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65673622

Being reported that the government thinks free wifi is a low priority for passengers so could be cut to save money. Maybe I am out of step, but I really appreciate it, especially on long journeys. I don't watch TV or films, just browse the net on and off and use Whatsapp. Is it really impossible to have a properly staffed train service running more or less to time and also offering free wifi?

So was I.

I would prioritise trains that run on time and getting a seat over free WiFi.

The WiFi on my regular train route is generally terrible. We aren't allowed to connect to public WiFi for work anyway, but even if we were it would be impossible to work on the train using it.

Do the people saying "use phone data" only travel within metropolitan areas?
When the train is rattling through miles of countryside far from population centres, phone masts are few and far between and phone data stops working. Train wifi may be worse than phone data within thr large metropolitan areas surrounding greater Manchester, Birmingham or London but train wifi is far better than phone data on longer journeys through remote areas. I do a lot of travelling for work and will typically be on a train for 3-5 hours prior to a client meeting. With train wifi I can get half a day's work done en route. Relying on phone data I would get a lot less done.

Clean reliable trains with seats and working toilets is a higher priority than WiFi. Cross country were dreadful for broken toilets a few years back. More staff on busy trains too to deal with antisocial behaviour. It's disgusting that the fares are high and you're not even guaranteed a seat. The reservations system is often broken too. How do Japan manage to run such an efficient system?

Trains should have wifi

Yes, we’ve been conditioned into putting up with shoddy services, so now people have set their bar so low they think stuff like ‘I’d just be grateful if they turned upon time’.

That should be a given, especially given the high cost of train travel in the UK. Many people need to work on their commute, or if they’re travelling for work. Free reliable WiFi should absolutely be a given. We’re not talking about giving away free gold bars to every traveller. Wifi isn’t a luxury, it’s a basic utility these days.

This. I’d rather they spent the money on making trains affordable rather than free wi fi.

You are right - but we have to consider this as it relates to the service we have now, not the service we should have. They need to focus on getting the basics right before adding to them.

Incidentally, I'm another whose workplace does not permit connection to public Wi-Fi for security reasons (and I work for a huge multi-national company). For anyone in this position, train Wi-Fi adds no value to a commute in terms of reducing time in the office, as you'd have to use a hot-spot to work on the train anyway.

It's not "free" though is it ?

You have bought a ticket to travel on the train and the wi fi is included , that's all priced into the cost of the tickets

My local bus service can provide free reasonably reliable and hassle free WiFi plus charging sockets on £2 fares yet the train to London at over £100 a ticket provides WiFi so poor as to be completely unusable.

"This. I’d rather they spent the money on making trains affordable rather than free wi fi."

Is that what they are suggesting? - we remove Wi-Fi and in exchange we will offer a cheaper & more reliable service for everyone?

Or is the Department of Transport just searching for ways to cut costs?

Sometimes I think we have very low expectations.

Lol you were never progressive. I came here from Scandinavia in 1999 and you still paid with cheques, didn’t have chip and pin, you’re decades behind in IT

Shockingly it’s not just about you - some people work while travelling so they don’t have to spend as long in the office, or use the time to catch up on life admin if they work long hours and struggle to fit everything in

Using public WiFi is against most workplace IT protocols.

You really shouldn't be using public WiFi for work purposes. It's so unsafe

None that I’ve worked at. You might mean ‘many’.

If they spend the money saved on making sure the trains are accessible then fine with me. That means the booked assistance turns up at the train on time to help embark and disembark.

I mean it probably should be at all

I don't disagree.

We travel by train for work quite a lot, so use WiFi to keep working.

Will there be a paid option?

For the stupidly high prices, yes I think it’s a priority. I’m with O2 and find my data signal shocking so rely on the train wifi often to use my phone. I only really use the Avanti west coast to London and find their wifi ok. It should come as part of the price. Avanti west coast needs to prioritise not double booking passengers as well but that’s another thread…

Yet here in the UK, we think it's some extraordinary privilege to get wifi access on a train, despite having paid the most exorbitant ticket prices.

Local hospital charity trust offered to put in free WiFi for patients and visitors. Turned out the trust had done a deal with a company so that patients and visitors had to pay for it, and if the charity continued, they would also have to pay the companies lost "profits". As the executive said at the meeting (with a straight face) "This hospital is not about providing a public service."

I suspect a lot of NHS trusts where charities are operating are paying companies whose profits are in danger.

It's a perk, a nice to have, but affordable and reliable train travel would be more important to me every time.

Punishes the poorest travellers who can't afford data. Not a way to attract the public back to train travel. Would end up with more overcrowding if people have to get to the office earlier

Does anyone have numbers on what train companies are spending on wifi? I suspect it's peanuts, not enough to fix any of the other problems listed here.

The reason nobody uses it is as the signal is so bad. I’d like to be able to work more easily. Isn’t one of the issues that this also involves them installing more masts which isn’t popular near railway lines everywhere.

You can send the signal down the rails or over the power lines. But that requires being good at railways. Something the UK never really got the hang of.

Remember, you and I think that trains are designed to move people from one place to another safely, efficiently and as part of a bigger picture of underpinning civic life.

But to the government they are merely cash dispensers that are clogging up valuable real estate and diverting public money from buying cars, fuel, parking and everything else they can sting you for.

See also: hospitals.