Mobile phone reception on the tube

[jon0844]

So why not have no mobile signal on the tube then?

Gives those of us who aren't addicted to them a bit of peace & quiet.

What are the average journey times on the underground? Is that length of time in the wilderness really such a hardship?

There is currently no mobile signal on the tube! The only service provision so far is Wi-Fi and that's limited to stations. If you get a mobile signal, you're likely not underground or at one of the sub-surface stations where you MIGHT get an intermittent connection.

And having Wi-Fi at stations has proved valuable countless times for me, and no doubt others. You can now check running status of other lines, or trains/planes you're connecting with, without being out of touch for your journey.

You can send an email or instant message to say you're running late, or even you're early, or get those last minute change of plan messages from others.

I know life wouldn't end if people couldn't remain in contact underground, but we've now allowed ourselves a lifestyle that relies on near 24/7 contact. That's why planes now offer Wi-Fi too.

Whether people need it is open for debate, but people certainly want it.

And, fortunately, I don't think you'll ever see loads of people nattering away on their phone even if we do get phone coverage, quite simply because people don't generally chat much on their phones these days. They email, IM, maybe text, and then sit looking at social networks. Most of these things are pretty much silent.

 

[Mikey C]

There is currently no mobile signal on the tube! The only service provision so far is Wi-Fi and that's limited to stations. If you get a mobile signal, you're likely not underground or at one of the sub-surface stations where you MIGHT get an intermittent connection.

And having Wi-Fi at stations has proved valuable countless times for me, and no doubt others. You can now check running status of other lines, or trains/planes you're connecting with, without being out of touch for your journey.

You can send an email or instant message to say you're running late, or even you're early, or get those last minute change of plan messages from others.

I know life wouldn't end if people couldn't remain in contact underground, but we've now allowed ourselves a lifestyle that relies on near 24/7 contact. That's why planes now offer Wi-Fi too.

Whether people need it is open for debate, but people certainly want it.

And, fortunately, I don't think you'll ever see loads of people nattering away on their phone even if we do get phone coverage, quite simply because people don't generally chat much on their phones these days. They email, IM, maybe text, and then sit looking at social networks. Most of these things are pretty much silent.

I would beg to differ on that front! On buses in London there are always plenty of loud conversations going on, in a variety of languages too!

 

[jon0844]

But they let anyone on a bus.

Okay, perhaps some people do still natter away on their phone for hours/days (maybe the person at the other end hasn't yet got hooked by social media) but I think as a general rule I'm right - and will continue to be more right as time goes on!

 

[BuhSnarf]

Hell I've had a nat express coach journey of over two hours with one woman harking on for the whole journey.

And people did say something but got a mouthful of abuse. Sadly people believe it's their God given right.

The tube is lovely in this respect. No silly ringtones or text noises and no shouty phone calls!

Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk

 

[dtaylor84]

I understand that some people may not wish to disconnect; but what about those that do?

They could, er, disconnect? (Say by putting the phone in air plane mode...)

 

[gswindale]

So is that a contender for silly suggestion of the day?

Those that want a bit of peace turn their phones off & are subjected to the racket from everyone else?

What happened to standing on the tube reading the Standard?

 

[dtaylor84]

Ah, so you're not asking about the people who want to disconnect at all.

You're asking about the people that want everyone else to disconnect when it suits them...

 

[Abpj17]

Have TfL totally given up with this? What about on at least the subsurface lines?

The WiFi is pretty pointless. It takes a good 30 seconds to set up a connection, at which point your train is there or you're pulling out of the station again.

It really would make my life so much better as I could get 45 mins of extra work done on my phone each day. Right now I will prefer overground/NR even if it adds extra journey time on simply because I can get phone reception.

It varies hugely by line and mobile operator at the moment. Some operators provide pretty good coverage on the circle/district - the line is shallow. You'll often see people chatting on their phones.

From memory neither the New York or Paris systems are particularly deep with only a few exceptions. The Northern and parts of the Jubilee are very very far down. Even most of Central, Bakerloo etc. can be too far under.

 

[simple simon]

And, fortunately, I don't think you'll ever see loads of people nattering away on their phone even if we do get phone coverage, quite simply because people don't generally chat much on their phones these days. They email, IM, maybe text, and then sit looking at social networks. Most of these things are pretty much silent.

There is often too much background noise for verbal communication to be viable underground = especially on the deep level tube lines.

I often use my phone when the eastbound Central Line surfaces at Leyton, so do others. Its convenient to advise someone at home how long I expect to be before arriving there myself.

Simon

 

[Kite159]

I think the Piccadilly line trains promote that they run for 20 minutes above ground heading towards Heathrow to get passengers to check which terminal is needed for their flight.

 

[JaJaWa]

Three now provide free access to the tube WiFi for all their customers. They also launched a new app in conjunction with this called Three inTouch (http://support.three.co.uk/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBISAPI.DLL?Command=New,Kb=Mobile,Ts=Mobile,T=Article,varset_cat=signal,varset_subcat=3804,Case=obj(13306)) which you can set up to convert the Virgin Media WiFi to phone signal. This means Three customers can now send and receive texts and make and receive calls on the deep tube. There were definitely some surprised faces as my phone rung at Waterloo on the Jubilee and Warren Street on the Victoria line today!

 

[jon0844]

I was a beta tester for inTouch and have always had mixed results using it on the tube (Virgin Wi-Fi). It means I never really got to impress (or confuse) anyone by talking on the phone while deep underground.

The app is still a bit buggy though, so will hopefully improve in time. It was far worse when I got it in late June.