GNER celebrates half a million Wi-Fi user milestone

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GNER this week celebrated the success of its on-board Wi-Fi service, announcing that it has passed the 500,000 user mark.

The train operator, which completed its £3.2 million roll out seven months early in October last year, says that demand for the technology has proved extremely strong and resulted in a 77 per cent increase in usage each month.

"It's all about making people more productive and efficient and making us more competitive with the plane or car option. It's reliable and secure and gives a line of direct travel into city centres with a fast, frequent and comfortable service," said Alan Hyde, the company's head of communications.

The majority of passengers are using the Wi-Fi service, which is free in first class and costs between £2.95 for 30 minutes and £9.95 for 24 hours' usage in standard class, for business purposes to take advantage of the availability of a high-speed mobile office, but some are also using it for leisure purposes such as online shopping, according to Hyde.

GNER has invested a great deal of money, time and resources in Wi-Fi-enabling its 41-strong fleet through the use of roof-mounted dishes, mobile phone antennae and 3G and GPRS technology - in partnership with train communications specialist Icomera - and boasts 99.9 per cent coverage across its 920 mile route.

"We created a business case and we are on track with [the results anticipated]. We have no regrets. We invested [a large sum] out of our own commercial risk on this and believe that it was money well spent as we are getting a good return on that investment," Hyde said.

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