I myself was really excited about the Iarnróid Éireann Wi-Fi initative, that is, until I used it. Browsing on my iPhone was unbearable on the Cork – Dublin line, just had to do with 3G whenever it became available going in and out of rural Ireland

One thing we are learning on a daily basis here in this country nothing is free.
Fares will rise to cover this.

Paid for of course by the passengers, with the increase in fares announced recently.

Free my arse!

Dublin Bus keeping all the good stuff or the recession !

Hats off, this is the way forward, well done.

There’ll be nothing free about this. But I’d rather they spent the fares increase making the trains run on time. My usual trains are rarely within 5 minutes of the timetabled time. But since Irish Rail consider anything within ten minutes to be “on-time” the service never improves.

I dpubt it’ll be fully free probably have to pay an extra charge on your ticket and get a code.

Just reflecting on previous posts on this website….
What is the extent of our ties/connections to the UK?
A major extent!
This comment might not suit many readers but the UK is our commercial link to the rest of the world.
The relevance of this post is that the UK have come up with this concept (public wifi) some time ago.
If you can’t beat them…join them.

The headline says Free wifi. Then i scroll down and 8 out of 9 commenters dont believe it will be free. Its an interesting country we live in.

Good initiative and actually positive and may push prices down with the ISP’s on data roaming, but I don’t think it is enough to placate people in lieu of the Household Charge, or Water Charges, Vat Increase and the list goes on.

Maybe it’s a long term strategy to let the younger generation think this Government is ‘cool’? Though in my opinion it is aimed more at the tourist sector…

Whatever way it is spun, it does not clothe people, feed people or house people.

Go back to the drawing board and do your jobs and pay your ‘special advisers’ (mates) the wage levels agreed and stop the cronyism…

Really noticing the increase in fares…..Im spending a lot on bus and Luas. Looks like Im back on my bike. Get rid of my gut while Im saving.

great initiative well done to public transport

A unique WPA encryption code (as is on normal routers of as occurs in coffee ships etc) should be printed on each ticket. That way those who pay the (ever increasing) fare get to use the service ‘they’ pay for, and those scumbags who don’t pay wont get further benefit from honest citizens/taxpayers. Also a potential way (if done intelligently and within the law) to track devices/people who pay a fare but travel further than entitled. But do Irishrail have the intelligence, unlikely.

Yo, what happened with the sh*tload of bikes that were purchased through the happy socialist “cycle to work” scheme. All I see on the streets of Cork are about 10 more people cycling to work. What a great investment! We could also introduce a “flush taxpayer money down the toilet” scheme. I bet it would enjoy equal success. Why the fu*k do you need Dart? Get your sorry asses cycling

As our mainline trains are now the 4th from bottom of the league in Europe just ahead of Belerous, Latvia and another poor country. The speed of Irish rail to Galway is slower now than the steam trains with an average speed of 42.4mph. Shocking service and WiFi is needed to keep people entertained. If we were in the top 5 in Europe the journey time to Galway would be 35 mins yes 35 mins. Well done Leo. Something to brag about- slow trains.

I understand the benefits of having wifi on intercity services or anything that may have you stuck onboard for an hour or more but why the dart???? Most people have 3G these days, coverage is pretty damn good in most parts of Dublin! Do we really need to waste money on this? I’d rather see the investment go into stations, accurate real-time displays and other stuff that may actually benefit us!

There’s no way it’ll actually be free… it would be a nice feature though, since my phone is pay as you go, meaning I can never use the net on it when not at home because it eats credit way too fast and I can never top up more than a fiver at a time. Yes, I know, it is not essential to go online on the dart, but I do have a smartphone and it would be nice to make use of it’s full capabilities when travelling to and from town.

The wi-fi is perfect for getting work done away from the office. The connection absolutely crrrrawwwwls along so you actually do get some proper work done.

Would it not make more sense to spend the cash on improving ordinary broadband infrastructure across the country?

I comute every day on one of the 36 bus eireann WiFi enabled buses. its brilliant! I get on the bus in the morning and evening. log on, read the journal, rte news, Facebook and twitter. no additional cost.

Can you get wifi enabled bikes?

Believe it when i see it. has anyone seen the zoo train???

Dart is way overpriced and slow. And forget about it if you live in Greystones. Cost me €4.70 one way only recently from Greystones to Grand Canal Dock. I won’t be doing that again.

I thought we were in a recession? This is so confusing.

Dublin problem concerns Dublin people. Move along nothing to see here.

@William. Average train times in Europe on google.

@William. Dusseldorf to Frankfort. 395h

Recently went from Dublin to Cork by train. Wifi good. Nice service. Good trip.

Free wifi in public transport is definitely way to go, recession is not an excuse here to not to do it, it is actually one of the ways of pushing this country out of the recession – keep up with technology and progress. In many European countries you can buy bus ticket with laser card while already in the bus or even over Internet in your phone (special app for smartphones and txt system for older phones). Ireland needs not to fall behind and Leo seems to know it, good.

Connectivity will increase the productivity of workers while they commute which will raise competitiveness and stimulate the economy :0)

It will be a BitBuzz or something I reckon, free to connect to so long as you have a BitBuzz account.