Posted: 16th Apr, 2005 By: MarkJ
In light of GNER's recent 100% train Wi-Fi coverage announcement, rival T-Mobile has reiterated its claim to be the first operator offering "genuine" broadband speeds on UK trains:
It compares its offering to similar services run separately by train operators GNER and Virgin. Where they use satellite uplinks to provide connectivity when the train is moving, T-Mobile's service, installed on Southern Trains' Brighton Express by wireless specialist Nomad Digital, uses WiMAX, a would-be wireless standard touted for its ability to host high-bandwidth connections.
However, WiMAX - also known, more prosaically, as 802.16-2004 - is designed with the assumption that neither end of the connection is moving. So Nomad has had to do a little fiddling with the technology to get it to cope with a train moving at up to 100mph, tactfully calling its implementation "pre-standard". It also has to put its base-stations quite close together. Fixed WiMAX links are typically intended to operate over tens of miles - the 60 mile line from London to Brighton needs a base-station every mile or so, so the train's rooftop antenna is never much more than half that distance from the strongest signal.More @
The Register.