Do we really need WiFi?

Operators pay a great deal of money to install WiFi on trains, but I wonder if it’s needed. Isn’t it now rather ‘old-hat’?

When smartphones came out, most users had quite limited data. Unlimited was very expensive, so it was inevitable that where possible, users would use WiFi to keep costs down - not least as train operators began to offer WiFi free.

Times have changed. For a mere £10 a month I get unlimited calls and 8GB of data, and it wouldn’t cost much more for unlimited data.

For that reason, I never use WiFi - not least as my 4G signal is a lot faster than anything on-train and I’m not capped (as I gather I might be on many trains).

Now, if this applies to someone my age, I can’t imagine many young people have tariffs that limit data to the extent they need WiFi. Yes, spending can be tighter for students, but I’m sure phones are a priority for them and so a tenner a month would be considered cheap.

Perhaps I’m wrong, and I’ll be pleased to hear from younger readers in particular, but I collect emails, browse the internet and download items while travelling (at least 40 hours a month) as well as at home, and rarely reach 5GB.

I do appreciate the Tube is different as clearly normal signals can’t be received - although personally I wait until the train surfaces or I alight!

So, are those who use WiFi merely doing so out of habit without realising they needn’t bother and can easily keep within their data limits?