Does anybody know who provides the wireless service on Oxford Tube,
and also on the buses between Reading Station and Thames Valley Park?
Are there any other buses which provide Internet access?  What
techology are they using for the link to the bus?  This information is
easy to find for wireless service on trains, National Express East
Coast, Heathrow Express, Southern (Brighton Line) and various other
European countries, but I cannot find anything about buses.  There
seem to be three providers of the Railway service, http://www.21net.com/
and http://www.21net.com/, both using a combination of mainly
satellite, with fill-in from other services, such as GPRS, EDGE, UMTS
where satellite service is not available, and WI-FI for high bandwidth
when in major statiions and the T-Mobile service used by Heathrow
Express and Southern, which needs trackside infrastructure, and seems
to be using WI-MAX.  Are any of these being used by the buses, or are
they using something different again?  Are there any other buses at
present offering Internet service?

I used the Thames Valley Park service last week, and it seemed both
reliable and fast, but my experience was limited to a few minutes.

I also have my own mobile access, from T-Mobile, which I've used on
the bus between Croydon, Coulsdon and Redhill, where I can get 3G just
about all the way, and on the train between London Marylebone and
Birmingham Snow Hill, where I can get 3G for something like 70% of the
route, and GPRS for almost all the rest.  The other rail line that
I've used it on is from Reading to Redhill, where coverage was less
good, with a number of locations without any coverage, 3G or GPRS.

Sorry, I pasted the same link twice; the second one should have been:

http://www.icomera.com/

furles@mail.croydon.ac.uk wrote:
> Are there any other buses which provide Internet access?

National Express Cambridge-London (operated by Burtons).  Never seen anyone
using it on my occasional trips, though.

Theo

"Theo Markettos" <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote
in message news:XSh*-3x6r@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk
: : furles@mail.croydon.ac.uk wrote:
: : : Are there any other buses which provide Internet
: : : access?
: :
: : National Express Cambridge-London (operated by
: : Burtons).  Never seen anyone using it on my occasional
: : trips, though.

<pedant>

They're coaches, not buses ;-)

</pedant>

Besides, if anyone tried to use a laptop on one of our buses, they'd not 
have it for long, one of the little scrotes that gravitate to the back 
seats would have it away before you could switch it on.

Ivor

"Theo Markettos" <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote in message 
news:XSh*-3x6r@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk...
> furles@mail.croydon.ac.uk wrote:
>> Are there any other buses which provide Internet access?
>
> National Express Cambridge-London (operated by Burtons).  Never seen 
> anyone
> using it on my occasional trips, though.
>
> Theo

UniLink, Southampton.(on *some* buses)

Ian

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:38:54, furles@mail.croydon.ac.uk wrote:

>Does anybody know who provides the wireless service on Oxford Tube,
>and also on the buses between Reading Station and Thames Valley Park?
>Are there any other buses which provide Internet access?

Scottish Citylink, between Edinburgh and Glasgow.  See
http://www.busandcoach.com/newsStory.aspx?id=1709

>Are there any other buses at present offering Internet service?

As I've already said, Scottish Citylink offer it!

Paul Harley