Is it finally all change for train Wi-Fi?

UK rail passengers will be able to take advantage of fast and reliable train Wi-Fi for the first time – provided that they are travelling on the 43-mile stretch of track between Earlsfield in south London and Basingstoke in Hampshire.

Operator South Western Railway has become "the first to introduce rail-5G Wi-Fi in Europe", said Rail Advent. So far, it's on a small scale – the new technology "requires trackside poles and antennas, which need to be installed along the route as well as on trains" – but it paves the way to ending the poor on-board connectivity that has frustrated travellers for years.

'Not true Wi-Fi at all'

Train Wi-Fi is the "bane of every commuter's existence", said The i Paper. Too many of us have opened our laptop to catch up on important tasks, "only to find that the onboard Wi-Fi connection is patchy or barely working at all". And it's not a service-specific issue – only half of all UK travellers surveyed by watchdog Transport Focus in July 2024 said they were satisfied with internet reliability.

Part of the reason train Wi-Fi proves so unreliable is that "it's not true Wi-Fi at all", said The i Paper. It relies on mobile data signal channelled through SIM cards fixed to the train. The problem is that these mobile internet connections aren't "ubiquitous across the whole country", and just 69% of rural Britain is covered by the main four mobile networks, and areas with fewer masts provide a weaker connection. Train services also tend to cap usage.

Another problem is that "if you were trying to design a system uniquely made to try and limit the spread of Wi-Fi signal, you couldn't do much better than a modern UK train carriage". Their construction materials block electromagnetic signals like Wi-Fi, and crowded trains mean those signals are even more obstructed before they finally reach our laptops or smartphones – where they must be shared between dozens, or hundreds, of passengers.

'Momentum has now swung' towards connectivity

The solution to tiresome train Wi-Fi is more mobile towers, because "the faster you travel, the harder the handover from one tower to another", said the Financial Times. Installing more 5G masts helps to bridge the gaps. From these, the mobile connection could be converted to Wi-Fi via antennas on the roofs of trains. Alternatively, mobile operators could "build out their 4G and 5G networks along railway lines" so passengers could use that service rather than relying on on-board Wi-Fi.

In 2023, transport officials "briefly looked into scrapping free Wi-Fi on trains", arguing that passengers prioritised value for money. But "momentum has now swung towards more connectivity". South Western Railway's new service is a start, but is "only available along 43.5 miles (70km) of track, which express trains take just 30 minutes to pass along", said The Telegraph. Outside that stretch, "passengers will have to use the existing provision, which relies on mobile phone masts away from the railways".

"But be careful what you wish for," said the Financial Times. "Imagine a world in which train passengers (especially the most self-important ones) could seamlessly log into their Zoom calls, or stream short videos without headphones." Many of us would "go from complaining that the Wi-Fi doesn't work to complaining that it does".