I'm in the tunnel
 

In message , at 11:51:44 on Wed, 22
Sep 2010, Roy Badami remarked:

Did One2One ever work on the tube

No. However, the precursor to Orange, the so-called "Rabbit phones" had
coverage in many tube stations. This was extremely useful when making
ones excuses to clients as a result of being late because hiccups with
the trains.
--
Roland Perry

I'm in the tunnel
 

On Wed, 22 Sep 2010 11:24:29 +0100, "Recliner"
wrote:

It would mean Tube passengers could stay in mobile range throughout
their journey, a move which could boost the capital's economy, although
there would almost certainly be some quiet carriages on Underground
trains where phones were banned.

Even better idea - how about making it data-only? Texting and use of
the Internet is not disruptive. Phone calls on a crowded Tube train
would be unpleasant.

Same with planes, really.

Neil
--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
To reply put my first name before the at.

I'm in the tunnel
 

On Wed, 22 Sep 2010 13:56:56 +0100, "Steve Terry"
wrote:

About ten years ago Orange put leaky feeder in the tunnels
on the West coast line out of Euston at least as far as Northampton

Are they still present? If so that might explain why it is sometimes
possible to hold a signal all or most of the way through some of the
tunnels.

Neil
--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
To reply put my first name before the at.

I'm in the tunnel
 

"Roy Badami" wrote in message
...
[X-posting to uk.telecom.mobile]

On 22/09/10 11:24, Recliner wrote:
Bad news -- it looks like mobile phones may work on the Tube after all,
according to that ever accurate source, the Evening Standard. So no more
cutting off of noisy phone callers as the train enters the tunnel.
__________
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23880176-boris-johnson-wants-mobile-coverage-on-tube-in-time-for-2012.do

Perhaps the Londoners here can set me straight on this.

Back when One2One first launched, it launched as a London-only network.
Its selling point, apart from being cheaper than Cellnet and Vodafone, was
that it claimed better coverage in the capital than the two national
networks.

I have strong recollections that part of that claim was that it worked on
the tube. I remember quite specifically reading about this, down to (at
least some) discussion about the technology and the use of leaky feeders.

Am I mistaken? Did One2One ever work on the tube, or was that just a plan
that never came to fruition? And if it did work on the tube, what
happened to that infrastructure and why and when did it stop working?

Sadly you are mistaken, One2One never worked on the tube. The only customer
facing mobile telecoms that have ever worked on the LUL deep level tubes was
the old Rabbit network which had base stations on a lot of our platforms. I
remember my boss being stunned when I demonstrated my Motorola Silverlink
handset making calls to our depot at Arnos Grove from the platforms at Hyde
Park Corner and Wood Green stations on the Piccadilly line, back in the
early nineties before One2One were even online. Of course, that all got
knocked on the head when Hutchinson killed Rabbit to roll out Orange. Us
tube train drivers were some of the few people that though this was a
retrograde step.
--
Cheers, Steve
To reply change the exclamatory smelly stuff to a well known mobile telecoms
company.
--
Cheers, Steve
To reply change the exclamatory smelly stuff to a well known mobile telecoms
company.

I'm in the tunnel
 

On Wed, 22 Sep 2010 20:33:59 +0100, Neil Williams wrote:
On Wed, 22 Sep 2010 11:24:29 +0100, "Recliner"
wrote:

It would mean Tube passengers could stay in mobile range throughout
their journey, a move which could boost the capital's economy, although
there would almost certainly be some quiet carriages on Underground
trains where phones were banned.

Even better idea - how about making it data-only? Texting and use of
the Internet is not disruptive.

You can make voice calls over a data connection with various voice over
IP systems.

Phone calls on a crowded Tube train
would be unpleasant.

I don't find it to be a problem at the North end of the Northern line. It
isn't crazy busy but is usually standing room only.

The real limiting factor on voice calls will be when the train goes over
noisy track work.

I'm skeptical that it will happen. There seems to be a suggestion that
the mobile phone networks will pay and they will share infrastructure. It
sounds like an expensive project which doesn't give a marketing advantage
and I don't see it generating a lot of extra revenue. I'd love data on
the underground bits of the Northern line but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm in the tunnel
 

"Neil Williams" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 22 Sep 2010 11:24:29 +0100, "Recliner"
wrote:

It would mean Tube passengers could stay in mobile range throughout
their journey, a move which could boost the capital's economy, although
there would almost certainly be some quiet carriages on Underground
trains where phones were banned.

Even better idea - how about making it data-only? Texting and use of
the Internet is not disruptive. Phone calls on a crowded Tube train
would be unpleasant.

Same with planes, really.

One of my members of staff at Arnos has a mobile that announces in a loud
Yoda voice "Mmmm, message from the dark side there is..." whenever he gets a
text message. Trust me, texting can be pretty disruptive...
--
Cheers, Steve
To reply change the exclamatory smelly stuff to a well known mobile telecoms
company.

I'm in the tunnel
 

In article , Steve Terry
scribeth thus
"Roy Stilling" wrote in message
...
On 22 Sep, 11:55, "Recliner" wrote:
"Roy Badami" wrote in message



On 22/09/10 11:24, Recliner wrote:
snip
Have they got the emergency services' Tetra radios working in the Tube
yet? This was one of the recommendations post 7/7. Presumably it'd
be relatively easy to piggy-back civilian mobile traffic onto that
infrastructure if it has actually been completed.
Roy


If the emergency services had adopted GSM Pro instead of Tetra,
they could have added leaky feeder down the tube for all to use
at least 10 years ago.

Steve Terry

ISTR we had this argument somewhile ago and did we came to any
conclusion why it wasn't done?..

I mean sound engineering reasons?..
--
Tony Sayer

I'm in the tunnel
 

On Sep 22, 6:02*pm, Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 11:24:29
on Wed, 22 Sep 2010, Recliner remarked:

The Mayor is also understood to be pushing for mobile coverage on
Eurostar services.

Long overdue. While coverage out in the open in east Kent has improved
enormously during the last fifteen years, it's high time they provided
coverage in the various (and the iconic) tunnels.

Also the HS1 tunnels have got very little to do with the Mayor. He can
encourage and cajole, but he's got not remit to make it happen. So,
nice sounding albeit rather vacuous words from Boris - nothing new
there then!

I'm in the tunnel
 

On Sep 22, 8:33*pm, Neil Williams
wrote:

On Wed, 22 Sep 2010 11:24:29 +0100, "Recliner"
wrote:
It would mean Tube passengers could stay in mobile range throughout
their journey, a move which could boost the capital's economy, although
there would almost certainly be some quiet carriages on Underground
trains where phones were banned.

Even better idea - how about making it data-only? *Texting and use of
the Internet is not disruptive. *Phone calls on a crowded Tube train
would be unpleasant.

Same with planes, really.

Excellent - smartphone addicts had better get some sort of tether to
attach their wrist to their mobile, as it'll go flying if they're
engrossed in some ephemeral network-based nonsense whilst they are
blissfully unaware of the swelling crowd that's about to stampede past
them at the next station. ;-)

I'm in the tunnel
 

On Sep 22, 11:24*am, "Recliner" wrote:
Bad news -- it looks like mobile phones may work on the Tube after all,
according to that ever accurate source, the Evening Standard. So no more
cutting off of noisy phone callers as the train enters the tunnel.
__________
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23880176-boris-johnson...
Boris Johnson wants mobile coverage on Tube in time for 2012

History lesson...

* March 2004
"London tube gets mobile access - London Underground (LU) is in talks
with the four main mobile networks to allow mobile access on the Tube
network. [...]"
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/03...mobile_access/

* June 2005
"London Undergound to trial wireless services - London Underground
(LU) looks set to begin mobile phone service trials next year [...] If
all goes to plan, trials could kick off next year followed by contract
tenders at the beginning of 2007 with commuters finally able to use
the service at stations from summer 2008."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/01/wireless_tube/

* March 2009
"TfL cans mobiles on the tube plan - TfL said the technology was
available but it was unable to get anyone interested enough to pay to
get the kit installed underground."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03...ile_cancelled/

* September 2010 - Boris gets headlines by promising to "bash heads
together".

* 2012 - Mobile coverage trials happen at three London tube stations
(one of which is the spacious Canary Wharf), network operators take
fright at the costs of installation?