Amtrak’s effort to provide train-wide Wi-Fi to blunt competition from planes and buses has clearly gone off the rails, according to several recent accounts.
The US’s national rail service first introduced the service two years ago. A press release promised "fast, reliable and consistent connectivity."
Instead, it has turned into a source for mockery on blogs and a daily source of any messages on Twitter and other social media," writes The New York Times.
In fact, the promised wireless service has become a symbol of the precarious state of train travel in the US. It has become totally unreliable, news accounts say.
"The Wi-Fi is so bad as to be more of a nuisance than to help," the Times quoted one of many unhappy travelers.
Amtrak officials say the source of their technical problems is beyond their control, such as the placement of cellular towers in the US. They are working to upgrade the service to faster networks to provide more consistent service without the current constant service interruptions.
While some US travelers praised European Wi-Fi, others pointed out that it also has had some problems. Again, because of uncertain technology.
By David Wilkening
