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According to the June 9 timetable, I will have Wi-Fi available on the Blue Water and on the Pacific Surfliner for my trip which starts next week.
How do I connect to Wi-Fi on AMTRAK from my new laptop computer? (what passwords do I need? Will the conductor or someone give me the password? etc.)
Thanks--
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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Thanks, Yukon!! Yes that page was helpful. My problem will be how to find the list of networks on my laptop, but I think I know how to do that. (I'll take my laptop manual with me!)
I'm surprised Chicago Union Station is not listed as one of the stations which has wi-fi available. On the other hand, though, it is nice to know that Wi-fi is available in the Pacific Parlour Car on the Coast Starlight (hopefully, the CS consist I will be on will have a Pacific Parlour Car.......)
One week until my trip (and counting!.......)
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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Hopefully the WiFi will work. Every time I've been on the Starlight since the installation of WiFi (including on the "test cars" on the Capitol Corridor trains), it shows that I'm receiving a strong signal from the WiFi transmitter on-board the train----however-----that transmitter is not connected to the internet. So even though you may have "full bars" connected to their system, it really doesn't mean anything if the system is not connected to the internet.
RRRICH: "I don't do Windows", so I can't help with how to find WiFi. But on a Mac, all you do is look at your WiFi menu, click on it, and it shows a list of WiFi signals that it's picking up. Since Microsoft has been copying Apple for years, it's probably a very similar setup.
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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On my Windows 7 laptop, wi-fi is the rightmost icon of those on the bottom of the screen (next to the time/date). It looks like a small set of ascending vertical bars. Just click on it and a list of available connections appears, with their signal strength where you are. Windows 8 or another brand of computer (mine is Asus) may differ.
Moving the cursor over them tells you if they are secured (need password or key). Click on the one you want and wait for it to connect. Some, such as motel chains, start at their own home screen. They can have their glitches, and few are as easy as home. Good luck!
Posts: 1572 | From: St. Paul, MN | Registered: Dec 2002
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Thanks, guys!! I should be able to connect on the Blue Water, the Pacific Surfliner, and the Parlour Car of the Coast Starlight (if the Parlour Car is in the consist the day I take the CS)
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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Mr. Twin Star, I have to ask, but when you connect a laptop in a hotel room, do you get that 'restrictive' and otherwise ineffective Uniguest platform that all too many hotels seem to have or do you get your 'home' IE or, for Smitty and cohorts such as my Sister, Safari?
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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My limited experience is that in a motel you generally start out on their chain specific screen when you use the password the motel provides. Once logged in, you can click on the "home" icon (little house) and everything looks the same as from home on your own PC. I am using Mozilla Firefox as a browser and have no experience with IE or Safari.
I have found internet speed to be an issue that varies from one motel to another, mostly along the lines of "Ya get what ya pay for". My Red Roof Inn connection in Phoenix was excruciatingly slow and they blamed it on being full and too many on it. Best Western (slightly pricier) was generally faster, but varied by motel.
For those like me who chose to just book a room wherever I end up on the road that night, it is generally cheaper to book online than to walk up to the front desk. So if can get online just outside the motel and reserve before walking through the door, I save about 10 bucks.
In the paranoia department, my laptop contains none of my banking or credit card bookmarks that I have on my home desktop. I also avoid installing any software when not on my home connection. You just don't know who secure these connections are and a laptop is easier to steal. I also carry a small cable lock to lock my laptop to something immovable in my room if I leave (also works on trains).
Oh, and Mr. Norman, a laptop will easily use a mouse just by plugging it into any USB port. A Smartphone (I don't have one) requires you to learn the appropriate finger movements common to a laptop touch pad.
Posts: 1572 | From: St. Paul, MN | Registered: Dec 2002
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Mr. Twin Star, once at an internet coffee house ('on the square' in Ocala) did I use a laptop. I can remember scratching a little pad on the keyboard - and I could never get the cursor to go where I wanted it to go.
But it is interesting to note that in your room you can be connected to your home platform.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Gil -- with a laptop, you can buy a wireless mouse for $20-25, I believe, which comes with a USB adapter which is simply placed into a USB port on the laptop. I too do not like the "finger pads" on laptops, and, like you, I can never get the cursor to do what I intended it to do. Also, Windows v. 8 now has "touch screen" technology, while not my favorite, it will easily work for the limited amount of computer stuff I'll be doing on my train trip (which begins tomorow) -- looking at my route maps, going from one map to another, expanding the screen image, etc. Some of these things I don't need a mouse for, and I also don't have to use the finger pad.
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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Thanks guys! Just wanted to let you know that I am ENROUTE now, at Battle Creek!! The Wi-Fi on the Blue Water works great, and w are on time so far!!!
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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We had just boarded the Sunset one night and thought we were going to have wifi, but discovered a few minutes later as the adjacent train pulled out of LAUS that we were getting a signal from the Surfliner on the next track.
-------------------- Railrev Escondido, CA Posts: 99 | From: Escondido, California | Registered: Jul 2003
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