[Article] Iarnród Éireann offered free Wi-Fi network

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by ccos

Was on a DB train with wifi recently, two points to note

1 its not free, you have to have a t mobile account or pay with credit card.

2 Only available on ICE trains between Dortmund and Munich, even if you are on a hotspot train you can't use it off this line.

Thalys (Paris/Brussels/Koln/Amsterdam) has it as well, but not all trains fitted yet, a fairly huge lump is bolted onto the roof to enable the satellite connection, its quite tall so much so it would get lobbed off by the first bridge on the way out of Heuston... And its not free but it grants you access to a limited number of website for free, basically enough to book a train ticket with them. Found it remarkably irritating to pay for a connection, gave up

DB seem to be using the wimax setup which requires a box every 2-4km along the line, wimax might do 75km but when mobile it can't. The 3G/satellite arrangement avoids the need to fit boxes everywhere, that said you can have 3G/wimax/satellite onboard if you wish, handy for tunnels