{"id":41906,"date":"2025-05-27T15:18:25","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T14:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/?p=41906"},"modified":"2025-05-27T15:18:25","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T14:18:25","slug":"south-western-railways-goes-live-with-5g-for-superfast-onboard-wifi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/05\/south-western-railways-goes-live-with-5g-for-superfast-onboard-wifi.html","title":{"rendered":"South Western Railways Goes Live with 5G for Superfast Onboard WiFi"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few years have passed since the South Western Railway<\/a> (SWR) announced that it would deploy a new rail-side 5G<\/a> mast network (here<\/a>), which aimed to deliver \u201csuperfast<\/em>\u201d onboard WiFi<\/a> for people travelling on a 70km long stretch of their Main Line into London (between Basingstoke and Earlsfield). But after some delays, the new network is now live.<\/p>\n

The original announcement, which involved the roll-out of a \u201cRail-5G<\/a><\/em>\u201d solution (i.e. special track-side 5G<\/a> mobile \/ radio pole masts that are used to supply data capacity for onboard WiFi<\/a>), envisaged the new network – backed by FirstGroup\u2019s rail division – as being completed during “early 2023<\/em>“. But clearly it ended up taking a bit longer than that to deliver.<\/p>\n

According to the latest update, customers can on that stretch of line can now enjoy “unprecedented internet speeds up to 20 times faster than the current average<\/em>“, as it becomes the “first train operator in Europe to introduce rail-5G Wi-Fi<\/em>” (we have seen other train operators using similar solutions before). But that reference to “20 times faster<\/em>” should perhaps be taken in context of SWR’s previously quite flaky onboard WiFi<\/a> (speaking from personal experience).<\/p>\n

On the other hand, SWR did previously trial the solution on the Isle of Wight, which is said to have been able to \u201cconsistently deliver<\/em>\u201d broadband speeds (throughput) of 1Gbps<\/strong> to a moving train (i.e. shared capacity for commuters and the train operator). The new Rail-5G network is separately described as being a “multi-gigabit internet solution<\/em>“.<\/p>\n

Peter Williams, Customer and Commercial Director for SWR, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled that our customers travelling between Earlsfield and Basingstoke are the first to benefit from this unprecedented superfast Wi-Fi. <\/p>\n

Customers can now stream, download files, video call, and much more \u2013 without worrying about their connection. <\/p>\n

Whether travelling for work or leisure, having access to a strong and reliable internet connection will make their time on board more productive and enjoyable. <\/p>\n

We hope this will make travelling by train an even more attractive option, helping to get people out of cars and onto the rail network.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

SWR highlights how polling conducted by Ipsos found that 41% of UK adults would be more likely to consider taking the train over other modes of transport if train companies provided fast, reliable on-board Wi-Fi. The figure is even higher among younger people, rising to 64% of those aged 16-24 and 59% of those aged 25-34.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few years have passed since the South Western Railway (SWR) announced that it would deploy a new rail-side 5G mast network (here), which aimed to deliver \u201csuperfast\u201d onboard WiFi for people travelling on a 70km long stretch of their Main Line into London (between Basingstoke and Earlsfield). But after some delays, the new network […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[406,60,78,476],"class_list":["post-41906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uk_isp_news","tag-5g","tag-mobile-broadband","tag-trains","tag-wifi"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@ispreview\/114580233198802193","error":""},"yoast_head":"\nSouth Western Railways Goes Live with 5G for Superfast Onboard WiFi - ISPreview UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A few years have passed since the South Western Railway (SWR) announced that it would deploy a new rail-side 5G mast network (here), which aimed to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/05\/south-western-railways-goes-live-with-5g-for-superfast-onboard-wifi.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"South Western Railways Goes Live with 5G for Superfast Onboard WiFi - 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