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Public Wi-Fi Tests / Discussion

Oswalds Bar by Glasgow Central

They used to have Three 4G now TalkTalk FTTP

The ping and responsiveness of this makes me disappointed I couldn't convince family to swap from Virgin at home
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I've got quite a lot of rather interesting Public WiFi tests to post, so I'll post them in chronological order.

This first one is an Open Roaming WiFi network in Canary Wharf, London (tested in the Canada Place shopping centre). It's a new type of WiFi network where Hotspot 2.0/Passpoint and a set of RADIUS servers work together to automatically connect you as soon as you come into range without even needing to click on the network. It's being trialed in Canary Wharf, London Stadium and a few other locations (there's a map online now). the Idea is that one day this will be a worldwide WiFi network with automatic connection. Pixels and some Samsung phones have support built-in but for other devices like iPhones you need to do a one-time set up where you choose an Identity Provider (IdP) on this page and download either an app or a configuration profile depending on which IdP you choose (it sounds complicated but isn't too hard to install):


https://wballiance.com/openroaming/profile-signup/



Ping: 1 MS

Download: 96.35 MBPS

Upload: 30.52 MBPS

ISP: Virgin Media
 
Woah 5GHz WiFi 6 from a Street Hub, highest speeds I've had on WiFi for both upload and download! Imagine what 4G would be like on EE here!

View attachment 17011
This was done a couple of years ago now but I do have another test on WiFi 6 standing right in front of the Old street Street Hub in London that beats that.



Ping: 2 MS

Download: 497.76 MBPS

Upload: 437.87 MBPS
 
This was done a couple of years ago now but I do have another test on WiFi 6 standing right in front of the Old street Street Hub in London that beats that.



Ping: 2 MS

Download: 497.76 MBPS

Upload: 437.87 MBPS
That sounds pretty good!

My area doesn't have BT FTTP or anything available (I think most businesses are probably on FTTC (although I don't know from where, but the speedtests from some businesses make sense and I think the O2 Store femto providing 20mbps or so also makes sense) unfortunately. I don't know how much 5GHz WiFi 6 is capable of, but I'd assume the Street Hub can pump out another 300mbps on top of that for EE 4G (B3 1791 15MHz and B7 3026 15MHz).
 
Eurotunnel Terminal WiFi in Folkston, UK.



Ping: 7 MS

Download: 102.54 MBPS

Upload: 84.27 MBPS

ISP: BT (interestingly the ISP in the French terminal is also BT so I wonder if they have a BT leased line going through the Tunnel or whether it's a VPN back to the UK. But in comparison the provider of the log in page is the French company Hub One on both sides of the Channel.



And a test from GovWifi queuing from British passport control. This network requires a username and password (EAP-PEAP) but is sort of ment for guests as you can obtain a username and password by texting a keyword (GO) to a phone number (07537417417):



Ping: 7 MS

Download: 84.09 MBPS

Upload: 57.93 MBPS

ISP: Exponential-e

Interestingly this is another one where this English ISP is in place in the passport control booths on both the French and English sides of the Channel, and they seem to be using Cisco AP's from what I could figure out. If you're lucky you can also pick up this network at some British airports (e.g. near customs at Luton) and it can be a lot better than the regular airport WiFi.
 
Stena line ferry.

SSID: Internet@Sea

Free access (advertised as Messaging and required regular re-connects every 10 minutes or so possibly due to using data at a rate that would indicate more than messages):

Download: 1.02 MBPS

Upload: 1.08 MBPS

Ping: 21 MS

Paid WiFi (€5.60 for the whole journey and stayed connected throughout the journey, advertised as able to stream videos and make video calls):

Download: 5.22 MBPS

Upload: 4.74 MBPS



ISP's: The ISP started as ADDIX GmbH, then as the journey progressed changed to GlobalConnect A/S then Bahnhof AB and once we arrived at the destination to Stena Rederi AB (Stena Line's own ASN by the looks of it). I wonder if any of you can guess the route from these ISP's.

The connection was advertised as a Radiolink connection and I doubt it was Starlink due to the different ISP's along the route.
 
ISP's: The ISP started as ADDIX GmbH, then as the journey progressed changed to GlobalConnect A/S then Bahnhof AB and once we arrived at the destination to Stena Rederi AB (Stena Line's own ASN by the looks of it). I wonder if any of you can guess the route from these ISP's.

The connection was advertised as a Radiolink connection and I doubt it was Starlink due to the different ISP's along the route.
Germany to Sweden ^^

Either Rostock -> Trelleborg or Kiel -> Gothenburg
 
Not mega fast saying that was at 5:30pm at Waterloo train station so was very busy

3529865256933612-qDA1wiZB.png

Saying that even with all the people there still faster than most shop free WiFi I've seen.
 
Stena line ferry.

SSID: Internet@Sea

Free access (advertised as Messaging and required regular re-connects every 10 minutes or so possibly due to using data at a rate that would indicate more than messages):
Didn't do proper testing because I forgot, but took the Stena Superfast VIII Cairnryan to Belfast.

Similar plans I think, free for messaging (occasionally had to reconnect) pretty slow but usable for browsing and music. £2 for a mid tier "streaming" package and a £4 highest package.

Agree it was probably some ship-shore service or a combination, it felt less laggy near the ports.

I've used the Stena Line Hook of Holland - Harwich route a few times (last time was over a year ago mind) and the Wifi on that was a lot worse, almost certainly satelite on there I think. My friend paid and it wasn't any better - it may be improved now though.

Was quite impressed by Irish Rail's Wifi whilst over there, it felt decent and didn't seem to restrict streaming, I was able to stream the Olympics while travelling (not from iPlayer mind!) and avoid using my data which was nice.
 
Stena line ferry.

SSID: Internet@Sea

Free access (advertised as Messaging and required regular re-connects every 10 minutes or so possibly due to using data at a rate that would indicate more than messages):

Download: 1.02 MBPS

Upload: 1.08 MBPS

Ping: 21 MS

Paid WiFi (€5.60 for the whole journey and stayed connected throughout the journey, advertised as able to stream videos and make video calls):

Download: 5.22 MBPS

Upload: 4.74 MBPS



ISP's: The ISP started as ADDIX GmbH, then as the journey progressed changed to GlobalConnect A/S then Bahnhof AB and once we arrived at the destination to Stena Rederi AB (Stena Line's own ASN by the looks of it). I wonder if any of you can guess the route from these ISP's.

The connection was advertised as a Radiolink connection and I doubt it was Starlink due to the different ISP's along the route.
Currently on TT-Line going from Rostock to Trelleborg ... I have to say their offering is much more impressive.

ISP also started out as Addix and changed to GlobalConnect when we got closer to Denmark. But other than Stena it's completely free, the only thing that seems to be blocked is OneDrive, speeds ranging from 25 to 100 mbps down and 20 to 50 mbps upload.

Also a nice bonus that it looks like TT does not use the "Telenor Maritime" mobile network on their ships. So no chance of a bill shock.
 

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Currently on TT-Line going from Rostock to Trelleborg ... I have to say their offering is much more impressive.

ISP also started out as Addix and changed to GlobalConnect when we got closer to Denmark. But other than Stena it's completely free, the only thing that seems to be blocked is OneDrive, speeds ranging from 25 to 100 mbps down and 20 to 50 mbps upload.

Also a nice bonus that it looks like TT does not use the "Telenor Maritime" mobile network on their ships. So no chance of a bill shock.
I agree that that sounds like a much better offering than what I had on Stena Line. I could often even beat the paid WiFi by going out on deck and manually connecting to a land-based network.

Out of interest what was the WiFi SSID?
 
I agree that that sounds like a much better offering than what I had on Stena Line. I could often even beat the paid WiFi by going out on deck and manually connecting to a land-based network.

Out of interest what was the WiFi SSID?
Yeah, that's what I have done on my last time with Stena as well.

The SSID was just "TT-LINE GUEST" (and yes it was all caps for some reason). If you're interested the MAC adresses showed they were using Cisco gear.
 
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