Train service | Julius Kekoni has a constant battle with the train’s internet: “Useable maybe one time out of ten”

“Vex, because the train would otherwise be the perfect place to work. However, often the situation is that I can only read the email and not even send it.”

This is what the architect says Julius Kekoniwho travels weekly by train between Helsinki and Kupitta and fairly regularly between Helsinki and Tampere.

Kupitta was one of the respondents when HS asked readers about their experiences of using the internet on the train. The topic is topical, because this week it was reported that the Ministry of Transport and Communications has interrupted a project whose purpose was to improve the internet connections of trains.

Minister of Transport and Communications Lulu Wrist (ps) reasoned the collapse of the project due to lack of money. According to Rante, the 4.7 million euros reserved for the project by the previous government would not have been enough.

Kekonin experience with VR’s own train network is unequivocal: it almost never works.

“Every time I get on the train, I test whether the train network is working. It’s usable maybe one time out of ten. That’s why I almost always use my own mobile phone network for work,” says Kekoni.

According to Kekon, the situation is problematic, for example, when he uses software for work that must be constantly connected to the network. Also, having a video call in, for example, a train cabin is practically impossible.

According to Kekon, the mobile phone network also works differently. For example, between Helsinki and Kupitta, the network works perfectly for part of the journey, but the network also crashes numerous times.

Multi another reader also told about the train’s internet problems in HS’s survey.

From time to time I travel between Helsinki and Kuopio by train. The trip cannot be used for remote work, because most of the time the internet does not work at all.

Problems occurred on several different travel routes, and according to readers, they were frequent. In some answers, it was said that the network works differently depending on where the train is on the route.

I regularly use the Oulu-Helsinki route. When leaving Oulu, the internet works for about 100 kilometers. After that, there are different levels of slowness and it’s quite hopeless to try to find good internet connections. When you come to Tampere, you know that now the internet is working again.

Some of the answers emphasized that the non-functioning of the train network directly affects remote working.

Last week, I tried to work on the train, but the connection between Tampere and Oulu stopped all the time. This would be a really important thing to fix. It would improve the use of time on long train journeys.

VR has tried to improve the functionality of the train’s internet this year.

In March, VR announced that a new wireless train network is coming to its long-distance trains during the spring and summer. New VR wifi The network identified by the name is, according to VR, up to five times faster than the previous train network and is used in all travel classes.

VR told Helsingin Sanomat on Thursday that the new train network is currently installed in around 80 percent of all VR’s long-distance trains. A new network won’t solve everything, because a faster network in areas with poor reception would require new base stations and masts. The new network also garnered praise from several readers who responded to the survey.

The new internet connection on VR’s trains has worked really well and enabled uninterrupted work, including international Teams meetings. The difference is like night and day compared to the old connection that was broken for a short time or completely for a longer period of time.

Another respondent praised VR’s new train network like this:

VR already has a new wifi network in use, at least in some carriages. About a month ago, when I went on the Oulu-Helsinki trip, I was able to do the work so well. It didn’t crash except probably once during the whole trip. Sure, some other routes might have problems, but at least the Oulu-Helsinki route worked well.

My cake says that he is ready to pay extra in order to be able to work on the train with good internet connections. It saddens him that the project of the Ministry of Transport and Communications failed.

“It’s sad that things that can be handled with relatively little money are left unfinished. Here, you would get a big benefit for a small amount of money.”

Kekoni states that improving the train’s internet would be a more useful project than, for example, the Hourly Train project, which received a price tag of billions of euros.

According to Kekon, the most important thing would be for the train network to be stable and functional. That would be more important than network speed.

The story only uses answers from those readers who gave their contact information to the editor.