Watchdog and Wifi on trains

[Carlisle]

Vodafone to all intents has no data signal south of Tonbridge.

As an occasional tourist to Spain and Ireland I have found Vodafones 3G signal appears to be more extensive in those countries than the UK but I don't know if this is actually a fact or not

 

[jon0844]

I am sure it is. Vodafone went on a mission of expanding overseas and seemed to ignore the UK for some years. It's really sad but Vodafone had so many corporate users that paid anyway, and didn't move (and still don't move) because of the logistical nightmare in doing so, that they became incredibly complacent.

Ditto for O2.

Orange and T-Mobile (formerly one2one) were primarily consumer focussed networks and had to provide a good service for users that have no such loyalty and will happily jump ship if the service isn't good enough, while Three was the 'David' operator that had to provide a good service. Problem is, Three built the best 3G network bar none, but had to save money elsewhere - and that showed with very dodgy customer service that put a lot of people off.

Now Three has mostly overcome those problems, and with some amazing tariffs and the best network infrastructure (with sufficient backhaul for 80-85% of the network) it is in a very good position to roll out 4G quickly despite being last to launch 4G. The problem it now has seems to be planning issues with the new, large, (Samsung-made) cabinets it needs to install at sites for the 4G upgrades. As such, it has fallen behind its rollout for 2014 with mostly high-up/roof sites upgraded, as against those with cabinets at ground level that are causing a nightmare for them.

 

[najaB]

It's really sad but Vodafone had so many corporate users that paid anyway, and didn't move (and still don't move) because of the logistical nightmare in doing so, that they became incredibly complacent.

One of the biggest they have lost/are losing is BT. After BT sold off Cellnet (O2) they moved to being a MVNO on the Vodafone network. However, the number of complaints from customers about poor signal has led to them moving their operations to the EE network over the next 18 months. All told it's a few hundred thousand subscriptions that are being transferred.

 

[Carlisle]

Three built the best 3G network bar none, but had to save money elsewhere - and that showed with very dodgy customer service that put a lot of people off.
.

Yes I was surprised that before the fairly recent Android/iOS/Windows smartphone revolution that most of the other networks lower spec touchscreens were not even 3G enabled handsets despite their networks having already been operational for quite a while

 

[infobleep]

Three is now trialling 'inTouch', an app which allows you to use just about any Wi-Fi service to make and receive calls and texts in the UK (perhaps one day this will include overseas).

Doesn't launch until August, but anyone with poor signal can request access (and receive a link to the beta app). Android and iOS only at the moment, whereas 3 Home Signal will work with any Three phone (and allow access to a number of phones, albeit ones that are registered for use).

For some years now O2 have offer TuGo, which is a way of making calls and receiving texts over wifi and that works aboard too. Works on iOS, Android and Windows. However it doesn't integrate with your phone's SMS so sent texts don't sync. Still that doesn't surprise me given O2's lack of interest in IMAP.

They eventually killed off their e-mail service as no one was using it. Not surprised given they didn't support IMAP. For some things O2 hasn't a clue but for others they do fairly well.

If TuGo synced in with my native phone and SMB system I'd use it all the time. I do however use the TuGo phone call part when aboard.

 

[jon0844]

Orange killed off services soon after France Telecom came along by degrading the service, stopping support, taking ages to fix problems or downtime, never advertising it ... and then used the classic 'no demand' line to kill it completely.

I've heard loads of bad things about TuGo, and fortunately the system used by Three - and also being trialled shortly by EE - don't work the same way (even if they essentially do the same thing). I believe one or both will use new standards for carrying voice over Wi-Fi, which is a step closer to Voice over LTE - which will enable voice over 4G. Once there's no need to ensure 4G doesn't extend beyond the coverage of 2G or 3G, the power can be 'ramped up' to vastly improve coverage and service in rural areas - which will also have a definite benefit to rail users too.

Most of this will probably not happen until this time next year, or even the end of next year, but it will happen and eventually 4G coverage will be as good, or superior, to that of 2G. So you'll finally have decent data access everywhere - not 2G that's pretty much voice and text only, and patchy 3G.

Ultimately, it would be great to see 3G (and not 2G) 'refarmed' for use as 4G and 3G is axed completely. There are many users and embedded data systems relying on 2G still, but 3G is easily replaced with 4G (if you consider doing it in 5-10 years from now, not next week!).

 

[aelius]

You actually paid for it?!

There seemed to be no problem signing up and paying the charge. Isn't that strange?

 

[jon0844]

It's possible that a lot of the payment system is run locally on the train, just making a short and quick connection to verify the payment. This could mean you succeed in paying, but still have a lousy data experience thereafter.

 

[Tibbs]

I am sure it is. Vodafone went on a mission of expanding overseas and seemed to ignore the UK for some years. It's really sad but Vodafone had so many corporate users that paid anyway, and didn't move (and still don't move) because of the logistical nightmare in doing so, that they became incredibly complacent.

Ditto for O2.

Orange and T-Mobile (formerly one2one) were primarily consumer focussed networks and had to provide a good service for users that have no such loyalty and will happily jump ship if the service isn't good enough, while Three was the 'David' operator that had to provide a good service. Problem is, Three built the best 3G network bar none, but had to save money elsewhere - and that showed with very dodgy customer service that put a lot of people off.

Now Three has mostly overcome those problems, and with some amazing tariffs and the best network infrastructure (with sufficient backhaul for 80-85% of the network) it is in a very good position to roll out 4G quickly despite being last to launch 4G. The problem it now has seems to be planning issues with the new, large, (Samsung-made) cabinets it needs to install at sites for the 4G upgrades. As such, it has fallen behind its rollout for 2014 with mostly high-up/roof sites upgraded, as against those with cabinets at ground level that are causing a nightmare for them.

I'm finally moving away from O2. I had an O2 phone from the start and moved to Giffgaff when that came along. I loved Giffgaff, cheap and very easy to manage.

However, I've just moved to a half-basement flat, and I despite living in central London I get 2 bars of E/GPRS if I'm lucky. I got an EE SIM to try in my iPad and got 5 bars of 3G straight away.

I'll take a look at 3 when their 4G coverage is better.

 

[radamfi]

I was surprised when the super cheap Hotel F1 in Dunkerque had fast enough WiFi that I could stream a live football match for the whole duration, using a VPN. The WiFi was free, for a hotel that only cost £23 a night. That was on Saturday.

On Sunday I stayed in a £40 Bastion hotel near Amsterdam airport and this also gave free WiFi that I could watch football reliably using a VPN.

In the UK I always use my own data, in trains and hotels so have no need for free WiFi.

 

[jon0844]

It's always nice when you get a Wi-Fi service that is really, really fast. It's pretty rare though. Mind you, you could probably stream an HD video broadcast for 3-4Mbps so it doesn't have to be as quick as if you wanted to download something.

I think the fastest I've had on Wi-Fi has been 100Mbps (and not far off in the other direction) and for that you really do need an uncongested Wi-Fi network - as well as support for 40MHz bandwidth which is even more susceptible to problems.