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UK Trains Take WiFi Route To Connectivity

Posted by simoniker on from the last-train-to-netcentral dept.

Randy Sparks writes "The BBC is reporting that one of the UK's largest train operators, GNER, is to offer Wi-Fi net access on its trains. What's interesting is how this net connection will be achieved - by a combination of networks provided by multiple mobile phone connections or even digital TV Internet, provided from ground stations the train passes by. It'll cost UKP4.95 per hour for train goers, although First Class Travellers will get it free..."

5 of 236 comments (clear)

  1. Its GBP! by Krik+Johnson · · Score: 5, Informative

    Why do people keep giving us the wrong currency symbol? GBP is the international standard code for pounds, not UKP! For another thing, slashdot dosen't allow pound signs either. Stupid stuck in 1997 website deisgn that dosen't even have valid HTML 3.2!

    --
    I have a fetish for traffic cones
    1. Re:Its GBP! by rikkus-x · · Score: 5, Informative

      Official ISO standard for what? Great Britain is an island. The United Kingdom is a country. Northern Ireland is a province, England and Scotland are Kingdoms, Wales is a principality.

      People usually talk in terms of countries, so what are the ISO people using Great Britain for, I wonder?

      Rik

  2. A whole new spectrum of excuses by JosKarith · · Score: 5, Funny

    "We're sorry this train is late, but there are the wrong type of interleaves on the pipe..."
    (For the benefit of those who don't have the pleasure of living in the wettest place on earth British Railways used 'Wrong leaves on the track' as an excuse for late/cancelled trains for years...)

    --
    'Don't worry' said the trees when they saw the axe coming, 'The handle is one of us.'
  3. Expensive. VERY. by superhoe · · Score: 5, Interesting
    5 GBP PER HOUR?! Here we go again..

    Rapidly increasing network access on-the-go is a really cool thing. I was excited and waiting for it when it was first announced.

    Now I've already got over my disappointment - f.ex. GPRS service is charged based on traffic here, and it's damn expensive. 100 megabytes and if you exceed that, it's 2 euros/megabyte. So, what's 100 mb/month good for? Definitely not for using graphical WWW on Opera's mobile version. Well, I then check my emails with GPRS. Same thing I could do with GSM data previously, phh.. Dunno, people all around seems to be generally richer than me because they are eagerly waiting for this new EDGE thing to come and increase transfer speeds to 200k or so.

    I'm not waiting for it eagerly - correct me if I'm wrong - at least in Europe, it's most likely going to feature similar stupid pricing which renders it useless to most non-corporate users. I'll join the hype about wireless access on-the-go at the very day when I can afford to use it effectively.

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    -el

  4. nice idea but... by kefa · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I currently use GPRS extensively on trains (admittedly in the London area where reception is relatively good) with no real speed issues. I'd be hard pushed to spend 4.95 GBP on GPRS connection charges during a typical journey.