Mind the gap – in mobile coverage: UK train signal to stay patchy till 2030 Data-hungry rail passengers will have to wait until at least 2030 before getting something like universal mobile data coverage across the UK, a minister confirmed this week. That might be a disappointment for trainspotters and commuters who were left excitedly looking down the track in June, when Network Rail announced plans …
It's amazing how many times this or similar announcements are made!
"Avanti West Coast invests £45 million to upgrade Wi-Fi coverage across West Coast Main Line (Aug 2021)"
"Under the proposals, more than £53 million will be invested in fitting out trains with new wi-fi equipment." (2014 Govt)
"Connectivity boost for passengers as rollout of fast and free station Wi-Fi is completed" (NetworkRail 2022)
"Virgin Trains’ fleet of 56 Pendolinos was fitted with new hardware in May" (2019)
Given that the UK has a spying and national security debacle running on at the moment, should we really be tendering out to the one LEO Comms company who's owner, by the evidence of his Xeets, seems not to have the UK's national interest at heart?
Maybe by the time the meetings and lunches are had there'll be others up there. What ever happened to that British / Indian satellite GPS company that Cummings was involved with whilst he was causing trouble?
Less relevant post-Covid. The railway never recovered. Lots of trains cut. Lots of strikes. It's unreliable and expensive.
I recently had surgery in another city. The rail service was not reliable enough to get me there on time and could have dumped me on a remote interchange station for an hour on the way back. It would have taken longer than a taxi and cost as much. So I took the taxi.
Look at HS2. They should have spent the money on the network as a whole, but once they went with HS2, they should at least have connected it to central London.
Anyone in charge of anything in the UK is incompetent, corrupt or both.
Lower your expectations.
The new high speed trains on the GWR lines have the most uncomfortable seating of anything I’ve ever sat on transport wise. I sat down on one about a week ago by a window and the padding, if there ever was any had gone. I discovered that there is a metal bar running the width of the seat just where your arse sits if you’re not sitting in the seat with your back fully against the seat back. The seat next to it wasn’t much better but it was slightly more padded. When the bloke came round asking to see tickets I mentioned this and he said that’s what you get when the government specify the bloody trains. You want me to travel by train then make the seats more comfortable and I might.
Don't suppose they could sort out the immobile coverage first? Like, say, anywhere near my house?
Still, if the trains all get coverage, maybe I could walk along to our station - it's only a couple of minutes away - and wait for the 09:45 if I want to send an SMS*
* don't want to go overboard, like hoping to talk to anyone
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"builds on £41 million confirmed in the government's National Infrastructure Strategy to introduce low-earth-orbit satellite connectivity on all mainline trains, significantly improving both the availability and internet data connection speeds for Wi-Fi connected passengers."
WTF has Wi-Fi got to do with mobile signal - that is what this average commuter wants improving.
Some train companies do provide free Wi-Fi but it comes with strings attached (they require various details (obv. you may be able to lie about some info they request)) - and so is part of general personal details slurpage that seems to continue apace in the UK
My rule is, if I cannot get mobile signal on a train then I do not use the Wi-Fi, so not sure what level of data they want now (maybe a recent train Wi-Fi user will know if they have used OSA 2025 to try & slurp even more sensitive PII)
Obv my network provider has various PII related to me (as it is not a free service) but no reason (IMHO) for train Wi-Fi operator to have any PII.
> WTF has Wi-Fi got to do with mobile signal - that is what this average commuter wants improving.
Part of the problem is a metal shell carriage and often windows with mesh in them creating an imperfect faraday cage
I travelled on East Midland Trains recently and a traveller was trying to work using the train wi-fi but it could not get an internet connection, his phone was pretty much unusable (no signal)
He ask about it and the staff member very apologetically replied that the equipment was 14 years old and getting very unreliable (I wonder now if it relies on 2/3G which is getting switched off?). The trains are overdue for replacement with Electric-Diesel hybrids so hopefully they will improve things a bit
