So WiFi provision is somewhat becoming the 'norm' these days. With every fresh batch of buses ordered, you're expecting WiFi to feature on them at least. Some operators choosing to go even further with this, and add features such as power sockets to their vehicles. In the digital age we're becoming more and more reliant on WiFi access, whether it be for work or pleasure.
Now it's all good and well investing in this technology and promoting your services with it, but what really peeves me off is denial that a problem exists. It seems that batches of Go North East vehicles since the arrival of the Connections 4 Citaros have suffered from WiFi issues. Now I know it's been spoken about on here a while ago, but Customer Services don't really acknowledge the problem. I've reported several faults as of late, and only tend to get a "Sorry about that." kind of response. Not very helpful when it would appear there's a large scale issue.
The vehicles I find I don't have issues with are the Red Arrows and Angel deckers. In the last two weeks alone I've been on 12 buses that aren't in either of those aforementioned batches, and are batches from the Connections 4 Citaros onwards (Citylink, Fab56, and Cobalt). All 12 have had exactly the same fault where that I can connect to the WiFi AP, but the login page isn't presented and I don't have any Internet access. I generally test on both an Android and iOS handset and the issue can be replicated on both.
Does anyone have a better idea of what is happening here?
(17 Feb 2014, 7:59 pm)aureolin wrote [ -> ]So WiFi provision is somewhat becoming the 'norm' these days. With every fresh batch of buses ordered, you're expecting WiFi to feature on them at least. Some operators choosing to go even further with this, and add features such as power sockets to their vehicles. In the digital age we're becoming more and more reliant on WiFi access, whether it be for work or pleasure.
Now it's all good and well investing in this technology and promoting your services with it, but what really peeves me off is denial that a problem exists. It seems that batches of Go North East vehicles since the arrival of the Connections 4 Citaros have suffered from WiFi issues. Now I know it's been spoken about on here a while ago, but Customer Services don't really acknowledge the problem. I've reported several faults as of late, and only tend to get a "Sorry about that." kind of response. Not very helpful when it would appear there's a large scale issue.
The vehicles I find I don't have issues with are the Red Arrows and Angel deckers. In the last two weeks alone I've been on 12 buses that aren't in either of those aforementioned batches, and are batches from the Connections 4 Citaros onwards (Citylink, Fab56, and Cobalt). All 12 have had exactly the same fault where that I can connect to the WiFi AP, but the login page isn't presented and I don't have any Internet access. I generally test on both an Android and iOS handset and the issue can be replicated on both.
Does anyone have a better idea of what is happening here?
No idea why it isn't working across the fleet nor why customer service staff seem to show a general apathy when told about it.
I gave up on using their WiFi a long time ago, when any attempts at connecting were knocked back/denied.
Picked it up when following an x1 in a car once... The one and only time it has worked when trying.
(17 Feb 2014, 8:05 pm)andreos1 wrote [ -> ]No idea why it isn't working across the fleet nor why customer service staff seem to show a general apathy when told about it.
I gave up on using their WiFi a long time ago, when any attempts at connecting were knocked back/denied.
Picked it up when following an x1 in a car once... The one and only time it has worked when trying.
Makes me wonder do they actually know about it? I'd hope that if they did, they would provide a short explanation to anyone reporting specific AP faults on vehicles? Maybe I'm expecting too much though...
Should only be the Citylink and Connections4 batches which have issues. I don't know why Customer Services haven't got a clue, but those who should know (the people who can fix it), do.
Once all the Cobalt Clippers are on the road, I think GNE are going to go back to the start and make sure they're all working.
I've certainly been testing the rest in recent weeks and had no issues.
The Drifters were fixed because there were daily complaints with fleet numbers each and every morning... Nothing to do with me!!
The issue will be the same universally, but wasn't just a 'quick fix'...
(17 Feb 2014, 8:27 pm)citaro5284 wrote [ -> ]We do.
Great to hear, but concerns me why don't customers get that impression instead of an apathetic apology?
Edit: By 'they' I was referring to the customer services team. Apologies if that wasn't clear.
(17 Feb 2014, 8:23 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]Should only be the Citylink and Connections4 batches which have issues. I don't know why Customer Services haven't got a clue, but those who should know (the people who can fix it), do.
Once all the Cobalt Clippers are on the road, I think GNE are going to go back to the start and make sure they're all working.
I've certainly been testing the rest in recent weeks and had no issues.
The Drifters were fixed because there were daily complaints with fleet numbers each and every morning... Nothing to do with me!!
The issue will be the same universally, but wasn't just a 'quick fix'...
Hadn't tried the Drifter WiFi, despite using them on Friday. I've replicated the issue on the Fab56 batch, namely 6090, 6099, 6100. I've only used one of the Cobalt Clipper batch (6113), and replicated the issue on that too.
Its 4 months to the day (give or take) since the Citaros, decked out in their branding and wifi advertisements were introduced on the 4 and despite the company knowing all about the wifi not working, they have not fixed it judging by the comments above.
Maybe passengers are as apathetic about it, as customer services seem to be.
Just relieved it was GNE money that has been put to waste and not any of the public money mentioned in the bus fund thread.
(17 Feb 2014, 8:30 pm)aureolin wrote [ -> ]Hadn't tried the Drifter WiFi, despite using them on Friday. I've replicated the issue on the Fab56 batch, namely 6090, 6099, 6100. I've only used one of the Cobalt Clipper batch (6113), and replicated the issue on that too.
I've been on a number of Fab56s now and it's been working every time - though I can't confirm fleet numbers.
I've been on both 6099 and 6100 too and it's been fine.
6101/6102 are the only Cobalts I've been on, but again, both fine.
(17 Feb 2014, 9:27 pm)andreos1 wrote [ -> ]Its 4 months to the day (give or take) since the Citaros, decked out in their branding and wifi advertisements were introduced on the 4 and despite the company knowing all about the wifi not working, they have not fixed it judging by the comments above.
Maybe passengers are as apathetic about it, as customer services seem to be.
Just relieved it was GNE money that has been put to waste and not any of the public money mentioned in the bus fund thread.
As I said in an above post, the priority has been ensuring that the vehicles entering service from the date Go North East were made aware of the problem do not encounter the same issue. For me, this has worked a treat and I have had no troubles with the Fab56 and Cobalt Clipper vehicles.
Once all of the new vehicles are out on the road, the objective will be to test EVERY vehicle in the fleet to ensure that the Wi-Fi is working.
(17 Feb 2014, 9:33 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]I've been on a number of Fab56s now and it's been working every time - though I can't confirm fleet numbers.
I've been on both 6099 and 6100 too and it's been fine.
6101/6102 are the only Cobalts I've been on, but again, both fine.
As I said in an above post, the priority has been ensuring that the vehicles entering service from the date Go North East were made aware of the problem do not encounter the same issue. For me, this has worked a treat and I have had no troubles with the Fab56 and Cobalt Clipper vehicles.
Once all of the new vehicles are out on the road, the objective will be to test EVERY vehicle in the fleet to ensure that the Wi-Fi is working.
They were made aware of the wifi not working on the 4 from day 1 though...
Just like they were made aware of problems from day 1 on the Streetlites and the problems on the x1 Geminis.
No idea whether it is GNE who are responsible or Moovbox (or whatever the provider is called), but 4 months to not get it working or find even a temporary fix is poor.
To then leave existing vehicles (despite spending thousands of pounds on kit) and concentrate on fixing vehicles that weren't even in the country in October...
Baffling.
In the case of the 4, is it even worth fixing the wifi now? Not sure anybody tries to see if it is working yet, so when (if it does) get fixed, passengers will be so used to not having it, they probably wont test it out.
(17 Feb 2014, 9:51 pm)andreos1 wrote [ -> ]They were made aware of the wifi not working on the 4 from day 1 though...
Yes, and that's when Go North East started looking for a fix. It wasn't as simple as one may assume and took a rather long time to actually find out what the problem was. citaro5284 mentioned at the time that three or more parties were involved in fixing the Wi-Fi on buses - you make it sound like GNE simply weren't arsed about fixing the Wi-Fi! There was no workaround - just a fix. The fix itself is actually quite complex and takes a bit of time to perform.
(17 Feb 2014, 9:51 pm)andreos1 wrote [ -> ]To then leave existing vehicles (despite spending thousands of pounds on kit) and concentrate on fixing vehicles that weren't even in the country in October...
Baffling.
Do you not think that's a better idea..? Fixing vehicles before they enter service?
The Drifters were the guinea-pigs, as it were. The fix was first applied to these vehicles and they were monitored for a certain period of time to ensure that the Wi-Fi was indeed working. It wasn't exactly a 'quick fix' and required the buses, one at a time, to be VOR for the day. You'll have seen CatFast101's daily queries at the time...
Customers on the Fab56 and Cobalt Clipper shouldn't be complaining as the Wi-Fi should be working on all vehicles - the fix was applied to these vehicles before they entered service for that very reason. It means that those customers aren't affected and they are unaware of any issues there may have been with the Wi-Fi on buses.
I thought you'd appreciate every vehicle in the fleet being looked at... Certainly not something every company in the world would do to ensure that there are no problems...............
(17 Feb 2014, 9:51 pm)andreos1 wrote [ -> ]In the case of the 4, is it even worth fixing the wifi now? Not sure anybody tries to see if it is working yet, so when (if it does) get fixed, passengers will be so used to not having it, they probably wont test it out.
Go North East has paid for Wi-Fi to be fitted to these vehicles, so yes it is worth fixing - and it will be fixed. Again, I reiterate, the focus has been ensuring that no other new vehicles are affected.
Passengers who always have their Wi-Fi enabled and have connected to one of Go North East's hotspots in the past will automatically connect and they should notice a speedier Internet connection when browsing.
(17 Feb 2014, 9:58 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]Yes, and that's when Go North East started looking for a fix. It wasn't as simple as one may assume and took a rather long time to actually find out what the problem was. There was no workaround - just a fix. The fix itself is actually quite complex and takes a bit of time to perform.
4 months is still an insane amount of time for an infrastructure fault. It would imply a low priority rather than anything else. In my own experience, unless the device is completely shot, it can usually be fixed by either upgrading or downgrading the firmware. If the product has shipped, at least the version installed at time of shipping
should be working, as it
should have gone through more than enough UAT.
It's not uncommon for IT providers to start paying financial penalties to their clients if infrastructure faults becoming service affecting, and last over a number of hours. This isn't just service affecting. It's total loss, and it's lasted for months.
(17 Feb 2014, 9:58 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]Yes, and that's when Go North East started looking for a fix. It wasn't as simple as one may assume and took a rather long time to actually find out what the problem was. citaro5284 mentioned at the time that three or more parties were involved in fixing the Wi-Fi on buses - you make it sound like GNE simply weren't arsed about fixing the Wi-Fi! There was no workaround - just a fix. The fix itself is actually quite complex and takes a bit of time to perform.
Do you not think that's a better idea..? Fixing vehicles before they enter service?
The Drifters were the guinea-pigs, as it were. The fix was first applied to these vehicles and they were monitored for a certain period of time to ensure that the Wi-Fi was indeed working. It wasn't exactly a 'quick fix' and required the buses, one at a time, to be VOR for the day. You'll have seen CatFast101's daily queries at the time...
Customers on the Fab56 and Cobalt Clipper shouldn't be complaining as the Wi-Fi should be working on all vehicles - the fix was applied to these vehicles before they entered service for that very reason. It means that those customers aren't affected and they are unaware of any issues there may have been with the Wi-Fi on buses.
I thought you'd appreciate every vehicle in the fleet being looked at... Certainly not something every company in the world would do to ensure that there are no problems...............
Go North East has paid for Wi-Fi to be fitted to these vehicles, so yes it is worth fixing - and it will be fixed. Again, I reiterate, the focus has been ensuring that no other new vehicles are affected.
Passengers who always have their Wi-Fi enabled and have connected to one of Go North East's hotspots in the past will automatically connect and they should notice a speedier Internet connection when browsing.
Wrote out a reply last night and my battery ran out.
Couldn't be ar$ed to write it again, but will cover the gist of it again.
Whilst not disputing, disagreeing or arguing with any of your points, WiFi problems were encountered with the x1 long before any of the new vehicles arrived on these shores.
If I was in purchasing or signing off the cheque for additional wifi equipment for new vehicles, I would want to know the problems (whether new or old problems) were rectified and resolved BEFORE fitting them to the Citaro's, Streetlites etc.
I would also ensure that kit was working BEFORE running out the Citaro's and Streetlites.
If a fault was identified after this point, I would again ensure it was resolved before the new Gemini's arrived and more money had been spent on their wifi kit.
As aureolin has said, 4 months is a long time to have not resolved the issues.
WiFi is one of the usp's on the 4, it is advertised and is promoted as a perk.
If CrossCountry trains can get wifi installed and working across its entire fleet of trains in 6 months, I fail to understand why GNE/Moovbox cant do the same with 12/13 Citaro's in 4 months.
As I say, not arguing with you, just cant see the logic in decision making based on the information you have passed on