[pramre]

Hello everyone,

How feasible is it to work on the New Haven main line trains - with a laptop and Internet from a cell phone? I'm wondering if there is continuous cell coverage from say Fairfield till Grand Central. With 5G phones coming later this year, that'd allow me to live farther out & count some of my commute as part of the work day. Does anyone have experience doing this?

How about on the New Canaan line trains? Last time we visited the town, cell coverage was a bit spotty.

[conway234]

As a casual user of cell data on the train (not using it to continuously work), I find the service to be spotty on the New Canaan branch north of Springdale. I also find service to be spotty between Stamford and Greenwich for some reason. I usually hit a dead spot in New Rochelle and it’s dead on and off in the South Bronx as you go through the trench and under overpassed. And it’s mostly dead down through the tunnel to Grand Central.

I have AT&T. I’m sure you could still get lots of work done regardless of the dead zones. But if you need continuous streaming or something, you’ll likely lose connection at some point.

[Comp625]

Originally Posted by conway234

As a casual user of cell data on the train (not using it to continuously work), I find the service to be spotty on the New Canaan branch north of Springdale. I also find service to be spotty between Stamford and Greenwich for some reason. I usually hit a dead spot in New Rochelle and it’s dead on and off in the South Bronx as you go through the trench and under overpassed. And it’s mostly dead down through the tunnel to Grand Central.

I have AT&T. I’m sure you could still get lots of work done regardless of the dead zones. But if you need continuous streaming or something, you’ll likely lose connection at some point.

I have Verizon and have similar issues. In Greenwich, it shows full coverage but service is SLOW as hell. Made me wonder if Verizon has bandwidth oversaturation issues due to too many users. In New Rochelle (or somewhere thereabouts), service complete dies for a few minutes.

[CT_Yank]

I commute from Fairfield to Stamford (Verizon) and service is poor from Westport to Darien. I usually drop calls minute we hit Westport.

[Stylo]

I have AT&T. It is good from New Haven to Westport, some spotty areas in Westport to Darien, Greenwich, then a Westchester into Bronx is pretty good.

It might just be my phones, but I’ve always had to turn on airplane mode because sometimes it gets hung up switching towers. It’ll show I have service but no data.

So not great, but not terrible.

[SteveM85]

AT&T here. Ditto on Westport. Very spotty service along 95 between 17 and 19 when I'm up that way. That stretch runs directly parrallel with the rails.

Merritt through Greenwich has some slow spots.

[Stylo]

Also if cell service is a big concern, get Verizon. It’s much better. I only switched because I get AT&T for free with work.

[hvexpatinct]

Verizon is iffy from New Roc through the Bronx. It works intermittently but may not hold a VPN connection.