In message

, Jeremy Double writes
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , Michael R N Dolbear
writes

"Roland Perry" wrote

GPRS is only 'always on' if you have coverage.

It's also so slow that no-one would use it in practice on a smartphone
[I was in that situation a week ago, and even something fairly modest
like looking up train times was taking several minutes per view].

Which suggests your smartphone needs a brain transplant.

It just needed a better cellsite, and so I drove a couple of miles
and found one.

That's not a very useful suggestion if you're at Kings Cross waiting for a
train and trying to find out what's really going on using Real Train
Times...

IMX it's often impossible to download anything at all from the web using 3G
at Kings Cross in the early evening.

That sort of scenario is why most of the mobile companies try to get
people to sign up for "free wifi" from a partner provider, for use where
present.

The next time someone says that rail ticketing is over-complicated,
remind them that:

There's an O2 hotspot at Costa/Kings Cross, and at the YO! Sushi bar at
St Pancras.

Sky (for people who have Sky products at home) have a hotspot at
Pret-a-Manger/Kings Cross and Cafe Nero/Kings Cross, and the Pret at St
Pancras.

In addition to getting the "wifi on the tube" free (as do Vodafone
customer), Virgin customers have the same hotspots as Sky (via The
Cloud).

BT (also available for EE and Vodafone customers) have hotspots at the
Betjeman Arms/StP, and "Network Rail"/KGX.

obRail: The BT Openzone hotspot-finder http://www.btwifi.com/find/ shows
all rail lines, even those below the surface, at places like Kings
Cross.

3G can also be slow at stations that are not London termini, depending on
the time of the day. This is a bit frustrating if you're trying to make a
short connection and want to know what platform your train leaves from,
shortly before you actually arrive at the station where you connect.

That's perhaps because there are too many other people trying to do the
same thing at the same time!
--
Roland Perry