Virgin Trains: Free Wi-Fi (except on mobile devices)

Welcome aboard Ricky, great to have you here

National Express East Coast provide free WiFi for all passengers on their trains (and plug sockets on almost every seat) and their signup page, while not even remotely mobile-friendly, works on most of the mobile devices I’ve tried.

They use the SES-Astra satellite broadband service which means there aren’t any deadspots where cellular data coverage is unavailable but there is high latency (space is a long way away, no good for VoIP), line of sight requirements (no good in tunnels) and the endpoint is in Sweden so geolocated sites (like Google for example) put you through to their Swedish sites and iPlayer thinks you’re outside the UK and won’t let you in.

Overall it’s a relatively good service given the technical issues involved in maintaining a connection while hurtling through rural Britain at 120 miles per hour.

Did you try turning on ‘Automatic reload’ which is under Options - Settings - Page of the S60 browser?
I could not access Google account stuff until I did this. Maybe Virgin trains also does a page reload/redirect.

I travel between London & Leeds periodically and the wifi on the National Express trains works fine on laptop and iPod touch. I didn’t think to try it with my N82, but will do next time just to see if they have similar issues

It’s good that train operators are starting to offer free wifi, especially since the new rolling stock I’ve travelled on recently seems to have RF screening on the windows, which prevents my 3G HSDPA phone (a Nokia E71) from connecting.

I used to think it was T-mobile’s fault until I made my regular journey on an older train and got 100% signal for the entire trip! Of course the older trains don’t have power sockets so it’s currently a lottery as to whether you get power but no network or vice versa!

Anyone else spotted this?

Thanks Dan.
All I could gather about Virgin’s service was it was provided by t mobile I have no idea about how the back end works.
The NE east coast services sounds much better then the west coast!

Yes sadly I still had no joy!

My favourite is how the Virgin T-Mobile hotspots are literally out-of-the-packet installs - go to google.com and you get redirected to google.de, classic! Overall a good service though, saves the dongle!

What about devicescape? THat auto logs me in with my Nokia n82 in lots of wifi hotspots.

Welcome aboard Ricky, great to have you here National Express East Coast provide free WiFi for all passengers on their trains (and plug sockets on almost every seat) and their signup page, while not even remotely mobile-friendly, works on most of the mobile devices I've tried.Unfortunately they use the SES-Astra satellite broadband service which means there aren't any deadspots when cellular data coverage is unavailable but there is high latency (space is a long way away, no good for VoIP), line of sight requirements (no good in tunnels) and the endpoint is in Sweden so geolocated sites (like Google for example) put you through to their Swedish sites and iPlayer thinks you're outside the UK and won't let you in. Aside from those issues it's a relatively good service given the technical issues involved in maintaining a connection while hurtling through rural Britain at 120 miles per hour.

Welcome aboard Ricky, great to have you here

National Express East Coast provide free WiFi for all passengers on their trains (and plug sockets on almost every seat) and their signup page, while not even remotely mobile-friendly, works on most of the mobile devices I've tried.

Unfortunately they use the SES-Astra satellite broadband service which means there aren't any deadspots when cellular data coverage is unavailable but there is high latency (space is a long way away, no good for VoIP), line of sight requirements (no good in tunnels) and the endpoint is in Sweden so geolocated sites (like Google for example) put you through to their Swedish sites and iPlayer thinks you're outside the UK and won't let you in. Aside from those issues it's a relatively good service given the technical issues involved in maintaining a connection while hurtling through rural Britain at 120 miles per hour.

Ahh that is a good idea, I must see if they have a 5th edition. The point is that the page *should* be viewable on a mobile browser anyway. I cannot see a normob using something like devicescape.

Did you try turning on 'Automatic reload' which is under Options - Settings - Page of the S60 browser?I could not access Google account stuff until I did this. Maybe Virgin trains also does a page reload/redirect.

Did you try turning on 'Automatic reload' which is under Options - Settings - Page of the S60 browser?
I could not access Google account stuff until I did this. Maybe Virgin trains also does a page reload/redirect.

I travel between London & Leeds periodically and the wifi on the National Express trains works fine on laptop and iPod touch. I didn't think to try it with my N82, but will do next time just to see if they have similar issues

I travel between London & Leeds periodically and the wifi on the National Express trains works fine on laptop and iPod touch. I didn't think to try it with my N82, but will do next time just to see if they have similar issues

It's good that train operators are starting to offer free wifi, especially since the new rolling stock I've travelled on recently seems to have RF screening on the windows, which prevents my 3G HSDPA phone (a Nokia E71) from connecting.I used to think it was T-mobile's fault until I made my regular journey on an older train and got 100% signal for the entire trip! Of course the older trains don't have power sockets so it's currently a lottery as to whether you get power but no network or vice versa!Anyone else spotted this?

It's good that train operators are starting to offer free wifi, especially since the new rolling stock I've travelled on recently seems to have RF screening on the windows, which prevents my 3G HSDPA phone (a Nokia E71) from connecting.

I used to think it was T-mobile's fault until I made my regular journey on an older train and got 100% signal for the entire trip! Of course the older trains don't have power sockets so it's currently a lottery as to whether you get power but no network or vice versa!

Anyone else spotted this?

Thanks Dan. All I could gather about Virgin's service was it was provided by t mobile I have no idea about how the back end works. The NE east coast services sounds much better then the west coast!

Thanks Dan.
All I could gather about Virgin's service was it was provided by t mobile I have no idea about how the back end works.
The NE east coast services sounds much better then the west coast!

Yes sadly I still had no joy!

Yes sadly I still had no joy!

My favourite is how the Virgin T-Mobile hotspots are literally out-of-the-packet installs - go to google.com and you get redirected to google.de, classic! Overall a good service though, saves the dongle!

My favourite is how the Virgin T-Mobile hotspots are literally out-of-the-packet installs - go to google.com and you get redirected to google.de, classic! Overall a good service though, saves the dongle!

What about devicescape? THat auto logs me in with my Nokia n82 in lots of wifi hotspots.

What about devicescape? THat auto logs me in with my Nokia n82 in lots of wifi hotspots.

Ahh that is a good idea, I must see if they have a 5th edition. The point is that the page *should* be viewable on a mobile browser anyway. I cannot see a normob using something like devicescape.

Ahh that is a good idea, I must see if they have a 5th edition. The point is that the page *should* be viewable on a mobile browser anyway. I cannot see a normob using something like devicescape.

If it’s free WiFi then why do they bother with an authentication page at all? Seems like a lot of extra effort/cost for them and hassle for the users for what exactly?

If it's free WiFi then why do they bother with an authentication page at all? Seems like a lot of extra effort/cost for them and hassle for the users for what exactly?

If it's free WiFi then why do they bother with an authentication page at all? Seems like a lot of extra effort/cost for them and hassle for the users for what exactly?

it is only free for 1st class passengers

it is only free for st class passengers

it is only free for st class passengers

Ah OK. I didn’t realise that.

Ah OK. I didn't realise that.

Ah OK. I didn't realise that.

I can confirm that the Iphone does not work on Virgin Trains!

I can confirm that the Iphone does not work on Virgin Trains!

I can confirm that the Iphone does not work on Virgin Trains!

I’ve just figured out how to access the virgin wifi on the iPhone 3gs. Speaking of non mobile friendly sites! This site won’t let me post the instructions! Not sure why. I’ll try again when home.

I've just figured out how to access the virgin wifi on the iPhone 3gs. Speaking of non mobile friendly sites! This site won't let me post the instructions! Not sure why. I'll try again when home.

I've just figured out how to access the virgin wifi on the iPhone 3gs. Speaking of non mobile friendly sites! This site won't let me post the instructions! Not sure why. I'll try again when home.

Southwest trains’ electric stock (the longer-distance ones that go to Southampton etc) appear to have RF screened windows, whereas the diesel stock (Salisbury etc) are fine.

One does wonder if this is a deliberate ploy to either a) shut people up (which is No Bad Thing) or b) line up customers for impending WiFi sales, as 3G modems won’t work.

Hmmm….

Southwest trains' electric stock (the longer-distance ones that go to Southampton etc) appear to have RF screened windows, whereas the diesel stock (Salisbury etc) are fine.One does wonder if this is a deliberate ploy to either a) shut people up (which is No Bad Thing) or b) line up customers for impending WiFi sales, as 3G modems won't work.Hmmm….

Southwest trains' electric stock (the longer-distance ones that go to Southampton etc) appear to have RF screened windows, whereas the diesel stock (Salisbury etc) are fine.

One does wonder if this is a deliberate ploy to either a) shut people up (which is No Bad Thing) or b) line up customers for impending WiFi sales, as 3G modems won't work.

Hmmm….

Could you please share how you did it? I’ve been trying for days without any luck

Could you please share how you did it? I've been trying for days without any luck

Could you please share how you did it? I've been trying for days without any luck

Sorry, I got distracted! My original post is from a Virgin Trains Wifi (london to manchester) and I was able to do the same thing on the way back. Here’s how I did it:

1. Go to Safari under settings and turn block pop ups and accept cookies always. I’m not sure if both of these are essential or not. I think pop ups have to work since the login button launches a pop up.
2. Try to log into the wifi as you normally would - you’ll get to a login page where the login button does not work
3. Note down the IP address (e.g 10.114.105.129) at the top of the login window and cancel the login
4. Go to Safari and enter that address but don’t go to it yet!
5. Go back to the wifi settings
6. You have to do this next stage quickly! Press on tmobile and before the login page has a chance to come up click the home button and open Safari and press the little arrow or refresh to make Safari go to that page
7. Be patient and you’ll get to the same login screen but inside full Safari instead of the cut down login screen. The login button actually works in full Safari!
8. On my initial journey this worked on the second attempt. On my way back it took about 10-15 attempts because the login screen kept coming up so quickly.

Hope you can all try it out! It takes some patience it the login screen keep annoying you.

Sorry, I got distracted! My original post is from a Virgin Trains Wifi (london to manchester) and I was able to do the same thing on the way back. Here's how I did it:1. Go to Safari under settings and turn block pop ups and accept cookies always. I'm not sure if both of these are essential or not. I think pop ups have to work since the login button launches a pop up.2. Try to log into the wifi as you normally would - you'll get to a login page where the login button does not work3. Note down the IP address (e.g 10.114.105.129) at the top of the login window and cancel the login4. Go to Safari and enter that address but don't go to it yet!5. Go back to the wifi settings6. You have to do this next stage quickly! Press on tmobile and before the login page has a chance to come up click the home button and open Safari and press the little arrow or refresh to make Safari go to that page7. Be patient and you'll get to the same login screen but inside full Safari instead of the cut down login screen. The login button actually works in full Safari!8. On my initial journey this worked on the second attempt. On my way back it took about 10-15 attempts because the login screen kept coming up so quickly.Hope you can all try it out! It takes some patience it the login screen keep annoying you.

Sorry, I got distracted! My original post is from a Virgin Trains Wifi (london to manchester) and I was able to do the same thing on the way back. Here's how I did it:

1. Go to Safari under settings and turn block pop ups and accept cookies always. I'm not sure if both of these are essential or not. I think pop ups have to work since the login button launches a pop up.
2. Try to log into the wifi as you normally would - you'll get to a login page where the login button does not work
3. Note down the IP address (e.g 10.114.105.129) at the top of the login window and cancel the login
4. Go to Safari and enter that address but don't go to it yet!
5. Go back to the wifi settings
6. You have to do this next stage quickly! Press on tmobile and before the login page has a chance to come up click the home button and open Safari and press the little arrow or refresh to make Safari go to that page
7. Be patient and you'll get to the same login screen but inside full Safari instead of the cut down login screen. The login button actually works in full Safari!
8. On my initial journey this worked on the second attempt. On my way back it took about 10-15 attempts because the login screen kept coming up so quickly.

Hope you can all try it out! It takes some patience it the login screen keep annoying you.