Satellite mobile broadband internet for improved service?

I really think the 3G/4G networks are poor coverage and poor performance.

Patchy. Particularly on trains.

I really don't think any network stands out above the rest; anecdotally I hear people from every network criticising the network they use.

Where one network is great, another is better, but elsewhere that same network is worse and so on... overall, no difference.

This hasn't really improved over the years. Sure, 4G has come along and some operators have rolled it out earlier than others, but it's not really Everything Everywhere is it. That brand name is simply not true. Rather, it should be Something Somewhere.

Mobile networks are meant to be for, MOBILE, users, so the service should be everywhere and good.

I really wish that someone would invest in mobile internet radio delivered by satellite as this is showing promise.

How, I'm not expecting small svelte satellite phones, but where I think improvements could be are reducing the size of the receiving equipment. Reasonable mobile internet speeds via satellite ARE POSSIBLE today, BUT the antennas are around the size of medium sized crockery dishes or placemats. If these could be reduced to a third or quarter of the size then this makes working at a notebook/laptop on the train practical without invading the space of other passengers. See this article.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/realworld/367414/satellite-ph...

I really hope progress is made here, to compete with the UK mobile phone operators for mobile broadband internet.

Does anyone have any more information that's more up to date.

With 600 pounds being the cost of many smart phones, I'd rather pay for equipment that can deliver decent reliable mobile internet service.

After all, what's the point of a quad core smart phone when the network it's attached to is the equivalent of a damp string.

Thoughts?

If you can afford the £4.60 per MB for data then its a neat solution, so long as the tunnels, embankments, carriage structure are not blocking the signal.

WiFI on board trains via a mixture of external satellite system bonded with 3G/4G kit is becoming more common on trains, either free access or paid. On the 4G it is not everywhere simply because of the nature of rolling out everything.

Thanks for running this forum, Andrew.

I do think that excuses like tunnels, embankments, carriage structure is typical European (or British, if you will) pessimism. If we took that mentality all the time so much wouldn't have been invented.

When I used to work at a European electronics giant, our far east partners would just get on and do things, whereas, by contrast, the Europeans would delude themselves as being clever by thinking of all the ways in which something couldn't be done. Making virtue out of complexity, suffering from the "Curse of Knowledge" cognitive bias. I get bored of hearing why things can't be done, I try to be in the can-do camp.

So, I'm really not in a hurry to get locked into a long contract or buy an expensive phone, as I know either won't give me what I want. I'm more interested in abundant, consistent reception and longer battery life than a faster, slimmer phone. Though I would concede that newer phones *may* have better electronics to work with weaker signal areas.

Edited by deleted (Sat 28-Dec-13 12:26:57)

You'll find that the signal is much worse on some train models than others - eg: London Midland from Euston to Birmingham is far better than Virgin because the way the windows and trains are designed on virgin (could also have somthing to do with the speed, but on the ECML East Coast has great 3G service the whole line until about Berwick).

I read a slight amount of irony in your post. You are talking about the european/british leaning towards saying this can't be done because of all the different things that might go wrong.

Then you say you don't want to enter into a long contract, essentially because of all the things that might go wrong. So, you seem to be in the pessimistic "can do" camp?

I sit in the pessimist/realist camp and will list the things that need to be considered when doing something as those might cause it to go wrong. At least then you know what to plan for if you do go ahead with something (and have an understanding of the risks). If you go fully into the "can do" camp then when something goes wrong you aren't prepared for it as you didn't consider it before you started.

Hey MrMojo

I'd love to know which service you're using on ECML.
I've got Vodafone and the reception is terrible. I've tried the on board wifi, but it wasn't much better.

I've heard that EE is a better, but don't want to sign up for a contract until I get some confirmation

Three is pretty rock solid. Some dropouts in the scottish borders but generally had 10mbit/sec service from NCL to KGX.