On Wed, 14 Mar 2012 18:27:42 +0000, Mizter T
wrote:

The contract is only for ticket offices, escalators and platforms
because it would have required major construction work to have added
connectivity to the network's tunnels.

A pity they seem to have ruled out connectivity within the
tunnels/trains themselves. Subway systems in other parts of the world
have been able to achieve this, apparently without too much
difficulty.

Chris

In article ,
(Chris Blunt) wrote:

On Wed, 14 Mar 2012 18:27:42 +0000, Mizter T wrote:

The contract is only for ticket offices, escalators and platforms
because it would have required major construction work to have added
connectivity to the network's tunnels.

A pity they seem to have ruled out connectivity within the
tunnels/trains themselves. Subway systems in other parts of the world
have been able to achieve this, apparently without too much
difficulty.

Subway systems in the rest of the world don't operate in 12ft diameter tube
tunnels.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On 15/03/12 18:50, wrote:
In ,
(Chris Blunt) wrote:

A pity they seem to have ruled out connectivity within the
tunnels/trains themselves. Subway systems in other parts of the world
have been able to achieve this, apparently without too much
difficulty.

Subway systems in the rest of the world don't operate in 12ft diameter tube
tunnels.

Surely a leaky feeder cable doesn't care about the diameter, or depth,
of the tunnel?

Anyway, I'm not impressed. I've already paid for mobile data and don't
see a need to pay for it again (in fact I pay Virgin Media for my TV but
don't have their broadband so don't expect to get anything free there).

The amount of data I have at the price makes WiFi almost irrelevant, and
I often have to turn it off anyway given the number of apparently duff
FON hotspots. Why can't we have 3G or better in the stations instead?

I'm still surprised that the HS1 tunnels (or even the Channel Tunnel)
don't have mobile coverage. Does GSM-R make it easier, more troublesome
or have no effect on the ability to provide coverage?

Richard.

On Mar 18, 2:18*am, Richard wrote:

On 15/03/12 18:50, wrote:

(Chris Blunt) wrote:

A pity they seem to have ruled out connectivity within the
tunnels/trains themselves. Subway systems in other parts of the world
have been able to achieve this, apparently without too much
difficulty.

Subway systems in the rest of the world don't operate in 12ft diameter
tube tunnels.

Surely a leaky feeder cable doesn't care about the diameter, or depth,
of the tunnel?

Anyway, I'm not impressed. *I've already paid for mobile data and don't
see a need to pay for it again (in fact I pay Virgin Media for my TV but
don't have their broadband so don't expect to get anything free there).

The amount of data I have at the price makes WiFi almost irrelevant, and
I often have to turn it off anyway given the number of apparently duff
FON hotspots. *Why can't we have 3G or better in the stations instead?

I'm still surprised that the HS1 tunnels (or even the Channel Tunnel)
don't have mobile coverage. *Does GSM-R make it easier, more troublesome
or have no effect on the ability to provide coverage?

Mobile coverage in the Channel Tunnel is coming soon:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03...tunnel_mobile/

Subterranean mobile coverage in the London Underground has certainly
been been looked at several times, but it's never come to fruition -
e.g. see:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04...s_mobile_plan/

On 18/03/12 07:40, Mizter T wrote:

Mobile coverage in the Channel Tunnel is coming soon:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03...tunnel_mobile/

Interesting link, thanks. It answers my question - GSM-R and GSM/3G can
use much of same kit and that as usual contractual details lag behind
the technology.

Subterranean mobile coverage in the London Underground has certainly
been been looked at several times, but it's never come to fruition -
e.g. see:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04...s_mobile_plan/

Seems quite possible but it's contracts again. Perhaps this is one
thing that Boris shouldn't have expected to get for nothing.

Richard.

On 15/03/2012 09:07, Chris Blunt wrote:
On Wed, 14 Mar 2012 18:27:42 +0000, Mizter
wrote:

The contract is only for ticket offices, escalators and platforms
because it would have required major construction work to have added
connectivity to the network's tunnels.

A pity they seem to have ruled out connectivity within the
tunnels/trains themselves. Subway systems in other parts of the world
have been able to achieve this, apparently without too much
difficulty.

Chris

Leaky cable technology, it is called, yes?

Will this mean all Londoners buying a Pay as you go Virgin Sim?
I think it will!
What is slightly odd is that LUL's contract for its staff is with O2 - which must be feeling as cold as liquid oxygen at the moment.

Does this mean that Virgin is going to replace O2 as LUL's mobile provider?

In message , at 09:54:16 on
Thu, 15 Mar 2012, Paul Corfield remarked:
Will this mean all Londoners buying a Pay as you go Virgin Sim?
I think it will!

Not all of them - if you're on Virgin already you'll not be changing.
If people only want travel info then they'll get that for free. It
will be interesting to see what the scope of that "travel info" will
be - tube? bus? rail?

As a Virgin mobile customer I'm quite happy to see this deal as being
able to check ahead for bus departure info will be very helpful.

I wonder if the wifi's going to be "completely free", or will you have
to buy[1] some "Virgin data" for the day in question, with the wifi part
of it being free?

It could even be that the wifi costs the same per byte, but is "free" in
the sense that you don't have to pay any extra to 'roam' to wifi.

[1] eg a day @50p on the PAYG plans. (I know there are some plans with
(eg) 1GB/month bundled in.)

--
Roland Perry

On 15/03/2012 09:54, Paul Corfield wrote:

On Thu, 15 Mar 2012 02:35:03 -0700 (PDT), Offramp
wrote:

Will this mean all Londoners buying a Pay as you go Virgin Sim?
I think it will!

Not all of them - if you're on Virgin already you'll not be changing.
If people only want travel info then they'll get that for free. It
will be interesting to see what the scope of that "travel info" will
be - tube? bus? rail?

As a Virgin mobile customer I'm quite happy to see this deal as being
able to check ahead for bus departure info will be very helpful.

As a non-Virgin mobile customer, I'd like the free travel info portal to
provide as much info as possible, obviously!

Access to Countdown / Live Bus Departures would be great, as would
access to National Rail Live Departure Boards - the latter is perhaps
less likely as it isn't something that's currently offered via the TfL
site. Hopefully it'll at least offer TfL Journey Planner, which would be
useful for checking NR train times whilst on journeys deep into the
centre of the earth.


What is slightly odd is that LUL's contract for its staff is with
O2 - which must be feeling as cold as liquid oxygen at the moment.

Does this mean that Virgin is going to replace O2 as LUL's mobile
provider?

I doubt it as I'd expect the contracts to be completely different in
scope and timescales. At some point I'd expect the mobile contract to
be retendered but that should be an open competition across suppliers.
AIUI Virgin use the T Mobile network for mobile coverage so I'd be
surprised if they were to tender for a mobile contract.

Yep, Virgin is an MVNO
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_virtual_network_operator

On 14/03/2012 18:27, Mizter T wrote:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17373523


Also, Virgin Media press release:

http://mediacentre.virginmedia.com/Stories/London-Mayor-announces-digital-first-as-Virgin-Media-selected-to-offer-Wi-Fi-on-Tube-stations-238d.aspx
or via http://preview.tinyurl.com/725vwt8

Excerpt:

---quote---
The new Wi-Fi service will launch as a free, unlimited service for all
Tube passengers from summer 2012 and will continue to offer free live
TfL travel information via a new online portal after this period.
[...]
From July 2012, all Tube passengers will be able to connect to the
internet at stations for free, [...]. Following this period, Wi-Fi at
Tube stations will be made available as part of Virgin Media’s broadband
and mobile subscriptions and all Tube passengers will be able to stay
up-to-date with travel information thanks to the free online portal.
Full Internet access via Wi-Fi will become available via Pay-As-You-Go
and other commercial models,.
---/quote---