I wish Virgin trains would be more concerned about getting their passengers to their destination on time rather than entertaining them.

Why so much hate, it's something for nothing :smiley: As for the comments about trains being on time, as far as I'm aware the main reason for delays are signal and track based problems, so nothing Virgin or any other train operator can do. You wouldn't blame a bus operator for roadworks delaying your journey would you?

Sanctimonious rubbish from someone who surely has never taken a 6.5 hour evening train from Scotland to London, or perhaps commuted a shorter journey twice a day every day, 5 days a week.

Ooo..what's that out the window? Oh, lovely lovely Carlisle.

This forum is increasingly difficult to read.

If I want to be entertained on a long train journey I just look out of the window. The sun's shining, the scenery's lovely, why would you want to be squinting at a tiny little phone screen instead?

scottrail already have free wifi :smirk:

So does Virgin Trains, it's now free for standard class too if you book through their website!

That's on the rare occasions it actually work........off all the way from Glasgow to Birmingham on Friday and most of the way back today and that was first class

I wish Virgin trains would be more concerned about getting their passengers to their destination on time rather than entertaining them.

Wonder of you can stream some porn for free

To be fair, it's going to lose signal in the same way your mobile phone does. Not like they have wired up the entire railway route with wifi repeaters.

So instead of keeping the prices of the tickets down, and making sure they turn up on time...?

And just fap in your seat? Chewing gum is hard enough to remove.

They should introduce it at stations, that way commuters will have something to watch when waiting for their delayed train!

​Don't think it will as it's stored on an on board server. You just connect to their wifi to also locally connect.

better than nowt!

If I want to be entertained on a long train journey I just look out of the window. The sun's shining, the scenery's lovely, why would you want to be squinting at a tiny little phone screen instead?

cheers working already on train home from Manchester, as above post says - you just connect to Wifi - not sign in or pay and the tv and movies stream great

I understand that but the train is moving. What's their server connecting to?

more marketing b######...just run a punctual and cost affective service rather than promoting these smoke and mirrors add ons...

​It's an internal offline server on board each train. Your device connects to that server which is emitting an internal LAN.

should be under 'freebies'?

Maybe try an opticians? Tend to watch things on my tablet and don't squint. Same when using my phone.

Agree to an extent. I can't think of anything worse than peering at a tablet or phone for entertainment.

Nope, I want dancing girls, pole dancing or something like that. Topless trolley service. Maybe a wee card school.

:confused:

I travel regularly from Euston to Carlisle and back and whenever I try to connect to the wifi I get a message saying that they are working on it.

Sanctimonious rubbish from someone who surely has never taken a 6.5 hour evening train from Scotland to London, or perhaps commuted a shorter journey twice a day every day, 5 days a week.

Ooo..what's that out the window? Oh, lovely lovely Carlisle.

This forum is increasingly difficult to read.

why are these guys still business, I have never heard of good service from Virgin trains. for instance if you go first class you can get a freshly cooked breakfast for a tenner, but here's the small print... only on weekdays. obviously you don't need to eat at weekends...

Went to London and back today, I downloaded the app onto my iPad in anticipation last night, couldn't watch anything. They were advertising it at Euston with boxes of free popcorn.

Ran out of that by the time I managed to get through the automated gates.

Haha unless there wifi has improved greatly I don't see how this works. I have tried to stream many a time on virgin wifi and it's a joke

I regularly travel from Glasgow to London and I've only been delayed once, by 15 minutes when a car hit a bridge. I pay £20-£30 (and can get a third off that with TwoTogether railcard) for a 4.5 hour journey into the heart of London which is great value, and I also like to look out of the window rather than at my phone for a change.

Could be useful for long trips this :sunglasses:

I got the email from them yesterday...The VT wifi & EE signal from Oxymoron Lake District to outside Glasgow is terrible so a local server on the train streaming stuff from it is great...it beggers belief that after almost 15 years of wifi a train company is catching up with in flight entertainment lol two movies and some grub time covers you from Lon to Glas and given the wifi backhauls mobile internet signal you will need it :wink:

Why so much hate, it's something for nothing :smiley: As for the comments about trains being on time, as far as I'm aware the main reason for delays are signal and track based problems, so nothing Virgin or any other train operator can do. You wouldn't blame a bus operator for roadworks delaying your journey would you?

The trade off is that it's cheaper to travel first class at the weekend so more people can afford to do it :smiley: When I booked a first class ticket I was made well aware that it was a different offering at the weekend, didn't bother me in the slightest. I actually find Virgin pretty good and I travel regularly.

Which then needs to connect to the worldwide web. Trust me, it's not a constant connection & drops out frequently.

'Currently trains receive 3G signal from ordinary mobile phone masts, which is "forwarded" to passengers through an onboard wi-fi system. Provision can be patchy, particularly in rural areas or when passing through tunnels or by embankments.'

'Network Rail is installing its own transmitters along lines, which it says will get the whole network connected. The government's latest announcement is about upgrading the trains themselves to ensure they pick up the signals and distribute them quickly to carriages via the upgraded onboard wi-fi system.
There will be enough capacity to deal with all passengers' needs "and then some", a Network Rail source says. Users of routes into London, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield are expected to be among the first to benefit, within "three or four years". '

Source: BBC in 2014.

It's LAN

Source: Independent 2016:
http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/virgin-trains-to-launch-beam-entertainment-app-for-passengers-a7066781.html

It doesn't need an internet connection for this particular offering. All of the movies will be stored locally on a hard drive, which is connected to a wifi hotspot. You connect to the wifi hotspot, navigating their internal pages to choose a movie, which then streams from the local hard drive to your device via the wifi hotspot.

Wifi is not the same as the internet. It's a wireless local area network (WLAN) that you connect to if you're in reach of it, connecting to anything that is connected to the central "hub" (the hard drive in this case), normally your home router is a WLAN that connects to the internet.

It works the same way that if you plug a printer or hard drive into your router, but unplug your ADSL cable, it will still be accessible from your devices.

You're both talking at cross purposes. Of course the Internet access uses a 3G service, so will drop out just like a mobile phone. However, the entertainment on this service (movies etc.) is stored locally on a server on the train - It therefore does not need 3G to stream the movies. They will be streamed by your phone from a local (I.e. on the train) server.

I use virgin trains on a regular basis, either from Manchester Piccadilly to Euston or Preston to Glasgow, occasionally a round trip, Preston, Glasgow, Euston, Preston. The trains are normally on time, occasionally a few minutes late due to signalling issues, however that's out of their control, also occasionally a few minutes early. The only time I have had major delays is after a big storm or when someone has unfortunately jumped under a train. Overall I am pretty happy with the service.......Now the cost of a peak time ticket from Manchester to London, that's a different matter.

Normally on time but in summer had multiple occasions of the aircon not working (once 30 odd degrees heat for 2 hours, it's was 250 a return ticket in standard class), and in first class saying there is no menu food and only sarnies because of short staffing or some other excuse. Thus I would question whether this service will be working regularly or often down with no technical expert to look at it and staff who don't have the foggiest as to how to reset the server?

​I'm a regular London to Manchester and rarely am I delayed, if I am it's normally down to something beyond virgins control..... Give them a break for trying something a bit different which will add to their customer service.

​You obviously don't travel in virgin first class :wink::laughing:

Why can some people not get their head around this.... The server producing the films is on the train therefore the train doesn't have to obtain and rely on a signal from outside the train to stream from.... Simple

Yes, trains can get a bit moody when they're delayed.

Will it be a clown or magician

How regular?

I have the misfortune to have to travel with them Preston to Euston twice a week, every week. Have been doing for the past 4 years. Last Tuesday they were an hour late, the Thursday before that, an hour late. Granted hour delays are not that common, but 5-10 minutes is 90% of the time.

As a matter of fact, I'm on the 6:57 to Euston right now, and yep, you guessed it, running late. They run late the majority of the time.

So yeah, sorry, I find that you were late once in 3 years hard to believe, you must be incredibly lucky.

Virgin Trains = Extortionate travel fares.

Awesome - Free magazines as well as movies - Mens Health / Top Gear / Stuff / Cospmopolitan / Grazia / Hello / Total Film / Womens Fitness.

Why so many moaners :smiley: its all free, just connect to 'virgintrainswifi' no need to buy internet - movie server is on the train.

if you use their trains daily, you will soon learn quickly that this is pure marketing b*******. they need to concentrate on running a punctual service for the 1000's who commute daily on their services (pboro to kings cross for me...)

Does this mean thay regular WiFi is now free?

I'm not really interested in watching movies or whatever, just want a bit of internet and online radio.

Indeed, if you book direct with them

Since when has it been free!!???
I'm a daily Birmingham to Milton Keynes commuter. That's news to me if its free! I'll try in on my commute home tonight as I normally tether my phone to my laptop and use my phones 2gb allawonce to browse the net. But this'll save me!

Same here . Tried first class for a week, granted it cost me £80 more for the week then my usual season ticket but the brekkie was fantastic. I think I ate non stop 10 mins into the journey when they come round . mmmm salmon with scrambled eggs on toast, 2 cups of tea, an orange juice, an apple juice, 2/more slices of toast was probably all I could manage!! It was fab, lived the dream for a week baby and ate like a ravenous hyena that week. I made it worth the extra £80.

I'm sitting on the delayed 17.13 virgin train on my commute home from Milton Keynes, I should have known it was too good to be true!! Nope no free WiFi!! Maybe in another part of the country but not on this train. Tried and it asks for access code ....looks like a wild goose chase!

It's only Virgin East Coast that has free wifi if you book with them, so you won't be able to get it on a Milton Keynes train.