Virgin Trains WiFi service

Yesterday, I travelled to & from London on the Virgin Pendolino service from Birmingham to London and return (of which more later).

In both directions, I was frustrated by the inability to connect to the WiFi whilst sitting in Standard Class Coach A. On the way down, I complained via Twitter and did get a response back from @virgintrains (on the way back, the team had gone home...) but alas it was pretty useless, suggesting that I contact an 0845 number  (from a mobile phone in the Quiet Zone - I don't think so).

This morning, however, I have had a very useful conversation with the third-party company (Nomad) that provides the support desk for the T-Mobile WiFi provided on Virgin's trains... Apparently, yesterday, two Pendolino sets did have WiFi with problems (now rectified). More usefully, I have been given the more customer friendly way of contacting them...

Instead of ringing 0845 287 2149 - which on my Orange mobile business account would have cost me 12.4p / minute - ring 0207 0966966 and choose Option 3. The team will be able to check whether the WiFi is in fact available, and can provide the direct IP address of the server to enter into the browser URL bar.

Better still, if, like me, you travel in the Quiet Zone in order to be able to work, they will take your mobile number and provide support by text...

NOW, why can't Virgin Customer Support be this helpful AND, more importantly, why can't the Train Managers carry this information with them???