S.D-REUBEN%KLA.WESLYN%Wesleyan.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Doug Reuben) (12/26/86)
Hello everyone, and Happy Holidays!
I posted this on the railroad board about a recent trip on the
Metroliner between Washington, D.C. and New York. I think it may be of some
interest to Telecom readerd as well, so here goes:
Railphone is a telephone service presently available on Amtrak
Metroliners, in the New York to Washington D.C. corridor. They look like
Bell System Charge-a-Calls (the blue phones you can't put coins in), and are
located in the Amcafe and in the Coach sections of Metroliner trains.
(In the coach cars, they took out one of the lounges with the 2 seats that
are near the bathrooms and made it into a phone booth.) To use them, you
insert a credit card, and dial your call just like any regular call. The
rates are $5 for the first minute, and $1 for each additional. (Which is
less than the ship-to-shore rates that are normally charged for services
like Airphone, which cost $7.50 for the first 3 minutes, but where each
additional minute is $1.50 . Thus, any Railphone call is cheaper than an
Airphone call.)
The connections are excellent!! Just like cellular is supposed to
be. I heard the people on the other end just like it was a regular call,
and the only problem was the noise from the train (the Metroliners go
pretty fast) which created a background noise, but that really wasn't a
major problem. Since the phones are only available on Metroliners, I guess
that you can only use them between New Haven and Washington. When I
first saw the Railphone map in September, the only areas that were serviced
were from New York to Washington. Last week, they had added Stamford, and
the map seems to indicate that it goes to New Haven, although New Haven
isn't specifically drawn on the map. However, since most Metroliners don't
go to New Haven (I think one each way during weekdays and maybe two on
Sundays , or something like that...), further extension North of New York
doesn't seem to be very necessary, unless, of course, they are planning
to install Railphone on commuter lines and/or regular Amtrak Service.
I believe the same company that operates Airphone also operates
Railphone, since the logos are the same. Railphone does have periods where
it is "blacked-out" (i.e., in tunnels), although I have managed to talk
even while in a tunnel outside of Baltimore. In the event that you do
get disconnected, they will re-connect you for no additional charge.
Overall, Railphone is an effective and worthwhile service that I wish
would be placed on other trains as well. Now if only Airphone could be
as good....!
Does anyone know how Railphone works? Is it a cellular system? If
not, what accounts for its remarkable clarity? Also, how do they check to
see if your credit card is good? (You slide a credit card through the phone
to start calling, like on Airphone) After I slid my card through, I received
a Dial Tone almost immediately, which seems too soon to check to see if
the card is valid or if I have sufficient funds to cover the cost of my
calls. Also, what sort of system is Airphone? And how does it compare with
Railphone? (ie, means of transmission, billing, available channels, etc).
Well, any comments and/or answers would be helpful. Thanks!
-Doug
REUBEN@WESLYN.BITNET
S.D-REUBEN%KLA.WESLYN@WESLEYAN.BITNET
S.D-REUBEN%KLA.WESLYN%WESLEYAN.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA
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