Why European trains have such bad wifi

Railway companies promise comfortable conditions for working online, but in practice, pages do not load, mail is not sent, and streaming is not even a dream, POLITICO reports.

Ookla expert Luke Kihou explains that the main reason for the poor signal is the high speed of trains and frequent changes of mobile towers. At a speed of about 200 kilometres per hour, a train crosses the coverage area of one tower about every minute. This causes the so-called Doppler effect, in which the signal constantly changes frequency and becomes unstable.

Railway companies also warn passengers about possible communication disruptions. For example, the French SNCF, when connected to Wi-Fi, displays a message in which it does not recommend watching videos so as not to overload the limited communication channel.

Another problem is the design of carriages. Many European trains use a special coating on the windows that prevents signal propagation and turns the carriages into a kind of Faraday cage. This is analogous to mobile phone connections being lost in lifts or underground car parks.

Belgian company SNCB has abandoned installing Wi-Fi on trains altogether because of high costs and poor mobile operator coverage. Instead, SNCB decided to replace the carriage windows with more suitable for the signal to pass through and shift the responsibility for connectivity to telecom companies.

Another important reason for the poor signal on trains is the nature of the radio frequencies used for 5G. These frequencies do not pass well through the trees and foliage that are often located along the railways. In the summer, when the trees are covered in thick foliage, the signal quality is greatly reduced. Add to this the thousands of tunnels across Europe, and it's clear why internet on trains doesn't work consistently.

At the same time, some countries are doing a better job than others. The leader among European countries is Switzerland, where Wi-Fi speeds on trains are about 30 times faster than in Austria and the Netherlands.

Some companies have started testing satellite technology. Czech Railways is already experimenting with Ilon Musk's Starlink service, while France's SNCF is considering both Starlink and its European rival Eutelsat. However, neither is an ideal solution, as satellite communications are more suited to aeroplanes than ground transport.

Not the least role is played by the equipment installed in the carriages. For example, in Poland, trains are still equipped with Wi-Fi 4 (2009), which is much slower than modern standards.

Using a mobile phone hotspot instead of Wi-Fi is not the best solution either. If all passengers switch on their personal networks at the same time, there will be a significant interference of signals, which will deteriorate the quality of connection even more.

Thus, the problems with Wi-Fi in trains are unlikely to disappear in the near future. For now, passengers only have to be patient.