As Georgetown students begin to embark on trips along the Northeast Corridor for spring break, those opting to travel on Amtrak’s Acela Express have a new user-friendly feature at their disposal: Wi-Fi Internet service on their laptops.

Amtrak installed the service, known as AmtrakConnect, on all 20 of its high-speed Acela trains, as well as in six major stations in the Northeast and in ClubAcela lounges, according to a March 1 Amtrak press release.

Wi-Fi will be offered to all Amtrak passengers at stations in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, Providence and Westwood, Mass.

According to Karina Romero, a media relations representative for Amtrak, the company has no plans to expand Wi-Fi services to all Amtrak trains.

“Customer demand was the driving force in our introduction of Wi-Fi on the Acelas. Amtrak is evaluating opportunities to implement AmtrakConnect on other trains, but has no firm plans to do so in the near future,” Romero said.

The service is free to all customers during its debut, though according to the press release, Amtrak officials indicated they will discuss an official policy based on customer usage and system effectiveness at a later point in time.

The speed of Internet will vary, according to Romero.

“With any cellular-based technology, various factors can affect network speed, including the number of passengers who are online and overall demand on cell towers by the general public,” she said.

“Additionally, performance of the network will vary as the train travels along the route as determined by the availability of cell towers and strength of an individual cellular carrier’s signal.”

The wireless service does not premiere without any limitations. For instance, Amtrak may prohibit access to certain Web sites and may prevent video streaming.

“Passengers should be asked to refrain from playing streaming video or downloading large files and to use headsets when audio is involved,” Romero said. “Amtrak may restrict access to some Web sites or restrict individual customers from using high levels of bandwidth.”

Student responses to the recent installation of the Wi-Fi service were varied. Molly Gelsey (COL ’10), who said she usually rides the Acela home to New Jersey, said, “It’s a good thing, it’ll be nice to be able to use the internet while travelling.”

Tim Smith (COL ’11), an Amtrak customer, said he thinks Wi-Fi on trains is unnecessary.

“[Internet on trains is] nice, but unnecessary. People are now over-reliant on their BlackBerrys and laptops. Actual human interaction seems to be becoming less and less important in the technological age.”

Wi-Fi service is currently offered on the BoltBuses of Greyhound and Peter Pan as well as on all domestic flights by Delta Airlines. However, the BoltBuses charge a fee based on the number of passengers signing up for Wi-Fi, while Delta offers free Wi-Fi access.”