A few months ago I undertook a trip to Paris with ICE train. I took my notebook with me to be able to write a few e-mails, read something or to show the photos from Paris to my friends and share my experiences while I’m in the hotel.
The journey from Frankfurt to Paris takes about 4 hours. During this time, you can use the outlet to connect your laptop in train and watch movies, or work with documents during the whole trip. But if you would like to go online, you should use internet connection via mobile phone, because there is no any other possibility to go online in the train. You should ensure to disconnect the connection with the approximation to the border, because otherwise you will pay high roaming fees.
This problem is solved, at least in the Thalys trains, since all their trains are equipped with WLAN. The signal reception works as Onlinekosten.de reports via satellite.
The first class customers get access to the Internet with the purchase of the ticket. All others must pay for the acces 6.50 euro for 60 minutes or 13 euro for unlimited access for the whole trip.
OK, the prices are not really low, but Internet on a train that travels abroad nowadays is not self-evident. Perhaps the price in the future would be a bit cheaper. But I think that before the price for the internet connection in trains could be done cheaper, the internet connection via WLAN-Hotspots in Germany should be done cheaper.
