Cell Tower Gripes in the Northeast Corridor

by by Michelle Choi of Lease Advisors
Amtrak has consistently faced widespread criticism for its poor WiFi in the heavily-traveled Northeast Corridor that stretches between Washington and Boston. But despite efforts to resolve the issues, the problem of providing reliable and fast cellular service on trains moving more than a hundred miles an hour is inherently difficult. The quality and number of cell sites constrain the railroad’s ability to accommodate so many wireless users at a time.
Cellular service for commuters and travelers relies on the cell towers along travel routes, whether they lie along freeways or high-speed railways. As mobile device users move from one cell to another, their active calls or data sessions must be transferred from one network channel to another, in a process termed handoff or handover. Handoff can also occur when a cell’s capacity for accepting new calls is occupied and must offload traffic onto another overlapping cell in the same area. Terrestrial networks’ source and target cells, the cell receiving and the cell transmitting respectively, are served from cell towers. The speed of Amtrak trains coupled with network interferences equal failed cellular handoffs, and failed cellular handoffs equal upset commuters.
Amtrak’s 2015-2019 Five Year Budget & Business Plan details their strategy for tackling some of the most persistent issues. Amtrak has been developing a new trackside wireless broadband network system; a 10-mile prototype south of Wilmington, Delaware currently provides network analysis to the company. If implemented on a larger scale, this infrastructure would increase broadband speeds from 10 to 25 Mbps. Amtrak currently relies on commercial cellular networks, but this $30 million move to construct a dedicated Amtrak-only Internet network could significantly improve cellular service. On national routes without cellular reception, Amtrak has considered satellite WiFi, which airlines are currently pursuing.
JetBlue’s VP for brand and product development Jamie Perry said, “People expect it [WiFi], and not only do they expect it, they expect it to be fast and reliable and free.” While Amtrak provides their Wi-Fi services free of charge, speed and reliability continue to be an issue. With the consistently rising use of cell phones, tablets, wearables, and other wireless devices, demand for bandwidth has stressed networks everywhere. On the 457-mile Northeast Corridor stretch, cell towers are susceptible to these stressors as well.