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Domain: gner.co.uk
Stories and comments across the archive that link to gner.co.uk.
Comments · 12
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Re:Money versus power
Just like GNER in the backwards old UK. Free internet for all this month too, not just those in 1st class http://www.gner.co.uk/GNER/mobileoffice/gotry
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100mph? Pah. 125mph for the last 6 months on GNER!
GNER has had WiFI on (faster) trains running between Aberdeen / Leeds and London. The single drawback is that the firm that set it up, Icomera having just sold a system to a Swedish train company, Linx AB, appears to be routing through Sweden, meaning that your default google becomes google.se. Oh. And the GNER website has a lovely little map which updates itself as you wind up & down the country, showing you where you are. In sum, it rocks.
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100mph? Pah. 125mph for the last 6 months on GNER!
GNER has had WiFI on (faster) trains running between Aberdeen / Leeds and London. The single drawback is that the firm that set it up, Icomera having just sold a system to a Swedish train company, Linx AB, appears to be routing through Sweden, meaning that your default google becomes google.se. Oh. And the GNER website has a lovely little map which updates itself as you wind up & down the country, showing you where you are. In sum, it rocks.
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Re:GNER has been doing this for a yearThe trains might be "fast" but the WiFi service isn't. The uplink to the "real world" uses a combination of either GPRS or Satellite:
http://www.gner.co.uk/GNER/Wi-Fi/How+does+it+work
. htmI tried it once going from Leeds to London... by the time I actually managed to connect to my VPN I was already a third of the way back to London. From then on it wasn't particularly quick, especially using bandwidth-hogging apps such as Outlook (yeah yeah, it's a work laptop...).
I would hope that using WiMax as the uplink would improve throughput somewhat.
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Re:Network Connectivity
In the UK one of the operators, GNER, who serve the East Cost have been rolling this out over the past year, there is a link from the GNER Wi-Fi page Which explains who it works for them. A combination of satalite and mobile phone for when in tunnels
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Re:Yes, but...
If it's anything like the service in the UK on trains that are almost the same speed, it'll be free in First class and start at about €5 for half an hour in Standard class. Of course, it may differ for whatever reason.
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LinksJust for more info:
GNER press release
GNER WiFi site
The full rollout hasn't commenced yet but you can find out which trains are already running with WiFi
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LinksJust for more info:
GNER press release
GNER WiFi site
The full rollout hasn't commenced yet but you can find out which trains are already running with WiFi
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Re:Dupe
I posted that original article, that was when the GNER service was a trial, now it appears the trial was successful and will be rolled out in the entire fleet.
GNER is the only decent train company in the UK, it's the only one that still offers a smoking carriage, it gives regular travellers a loyalty card like many airlines do, in has a proper restaurant service and I've not had too many problems with their timekeeping.
The only thing I can say bad about them is that they used to sell bottled real ales in the buffet car, but they stopped doing those October last year, now you've got only canned mainstream beers which ain't the same. GNER are usually good at listening to feedback so if you're a regular traveller and miss the guest ales then email them and let them know. Vist www.gner.co.uk and click on the 'contact us' link, then select customer relations. -
Re:The problem I have with trainsYou might find that on certain lines if you don't travel at peak times. There have been some quite incredible things happeneing in the last few years, quite closely mirroring the events in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. The government seized control of the rail tracks themselves, now they've seized the maintainence companies, and there have been all kinds of cooked up failures, where one accident leads to an insane overreaction by the government's new rail "executive", the Stratigic Rail Authority. And all the while the service level drops, more trains are late, and you just get used to *never* relying on it. Almost every time I take a train there is something wrong - either the driver doesn't turn up (expecially a problem for the early morning serivces), or the train is so late it is cancelled and the next one replaces it. They seem to operate with no slack or redundacy at all, and to hell with people planning to use them for actual time based appointments.
That being said, GNER are one of the best. Only beaten by Hull Trains who are superb.
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In the UK...The problem with mobile phones on long distance train services in the UK has made most UK train operators introduce a quiet coach where you can't use mobile phones, leaving people in other carriages free to use their mobile phones. Most UK long distance trains are over 5 carriages long so providing a mobile free carriage ain't too much of a problem.
However on an aircraft it'd not be feasible to separate the seating in such a way so many people will just get annoyed listening to people on the phone as well as the annoying ringtones going off all the time. -
Poetry ...I was on the train the other day and sat opposite was an American Patent Lawyer. Must have been a serious suit as he was in, well, the wrong country and not on holiday. (The invasion is not due for another few weeks yet.)
Anyhow, we got to discussing the Amazon patents, and just at the moment he was saying that he thought they were OK the Cook, who was collecting crockery, dropped a cup of tea on him.
Poetic, don't you think?