SimpleSi Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 Not travelled on train in years (Possibly > 1 decade!) Do they have wi-fi (Virgin west coast - pleb class seat ) Will my bluetooth 3G tethering setup that I used camping work ? Or will I have to get myself a sudoku book? regards Simon
Edu-IT Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 Virgin trains usually do but there is a charge for it. http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/trains/wi-fi/ "You'll find Wi-Fi available on all Virgin trains." 1
SimpleSi Posted January 12, 2010 Author Posted January 12, 2010 Ta I'll think I'll try my phone link 1st and then maybe go for the £5 for 60mins regards Simon
Edu-IT Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 fiver for an hour? Yes, but, the train tickets aren't that expensive so they need to make up costs.
HarryMonkey Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 It's only free in 1st class. You have to pay for it elsewhere. I bought a PAYG O2 mobile broadband dongle for use when I'm out and about. Costs me £2 for 24 hrs and so far I haven't found anywhere that it won't work. 1
EduTech Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 I use my orange mobile broadband via 3G on virgin trains, works very well no problems at all! James. 1
SC-UK Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 It's only free in 1st class. You have to pay for it elsewhere. Whereas yes this is true, there is a way around it :-) This always used to be possible, but the train companies may have wised up a little and put a little extra security in place somehow. Simply sit in "pleb class" as you say, but as close to the first class carriages as possible. I used to do this on FCC and could pick up both the chargeable, and the free systems
fafster Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 If you have a mobile that supports it, tether it to your laptop.
HarryMonkey Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 If you have a mobile that supports it, tether it to your laptop. How would I know if it does and if it does, how do I do it?
HarryMonkey Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 What mobile do you have? Sony Ericsson C905
fafster Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 Sony Ericsson C905 - Using As A Modem With A Laptop & Daily Charges? - Vodafone eForum. The link is specific to Vodafone, but it may point you in the right direction. 1
HarryMonkey Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 Thanks for that ... I'll give it a go later.
fafster Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 My Virgin mobile account suits me down to the ground.... you can get our Mobile Internet Add-On for just £5 a month it gives you unlimited Mobile Internet. .... If you exceed the 1GB fair use policy at any point then your excess use will be charged on a daily rate of 30p per day for any additional days. That daily rate is subject to a fair use policy of 25MB per day and any additional use beyond that will be charged at £2 per MB. So it's unlimited as long as you don't download more than 1GB. It's like saying I'm a millionaire so long as I don't spend more than my monthly income. I have a fair usage policy with T-Mobile that potentially throttles my connection during the daytime if I go over 1GB.
jimafblack Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 On East Coast train to London heading down for BETT and Wifi is ok but intermittent. Not sure your 3G card would be any better though! JIm
SimpleSi Posted January 12, 2010 Author Posted January 12, 2010 I feel like Alice in Wonderland! Here I am on a train with MAINS electric !!!! (I'm on my Vodaphone 3G dongle - just left Warrington - next stop the Big City!) How things change! I remember being cutting edge with a Tosh 4000 series laptop and carrying spare set of batteries (2 in fact) so I could last the journey from Banbury to London and everyone looking at me wondering what it was ) - Now I'm the hick from the sticks. Do they have drop down screens - there is a set of controls between the seats but I don't want to press anything in case I get charged! I think I've just had my first tilt!!!!1 Si
SimpleSi Posted January 12, 2010 Author Posted January 12, 2010 Getting 1.1Mbs according to speedtest Or course I'ver had a couple of dropouts. Down side of this is that one of my schools is emalling me a spreadsheet so I can sort out the page breaks regards Simon
SimpleSi Posted January 12, 2010 Author Posted January 12, 2010 I wish to complain to Mr Vodaphone. His 3G service don't work in tunnels:p Mind you - I don't understand why we went in a tunnel - I thought it was all flat down south regards Simon PS GPS doesn't seem to work on trains so I only know where I am to 1700 metres (well I'm actually in seat 53 coach B but you know what I mean!)
teejay Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 Yeah, just ordered myself a T-Mobile dongle with 3 month pre-paid so I can use my personal laptop at work during breaks and when our wonderful filtering service blocks support sites
SimpleSi Posted January 12, 2010 Author Posted January 12, 2010 time to sign off and try to find our leaders! regards Simon
john Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 time to sign off and try to find our leaders! regards Simon He was doing one of Edugeek's favourite past-times when I spoke to him on the phone at around 4:20pm
john Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 Eating Pizza? No, its that word that we don't like to mention as it gets certain members really excited and drags threads off topic and onto matters of starch, perfect seams on them, what type is best, shape of the sole plate etc...... To assist with keeping on topic, if you go down the East Coast (which I often do due to being exactly the same distance by train to either side!) you get free wifi on the East Coast in 3rd class or 1st class, but due to pricing being craaaazy on that side for some reason I am using the West Coast, going standard down and back for work but will give 1st a go on the trip home on Sunday to sunny Yorkshire.....
srochford Posted January 13, 2010 Posted January 13, 2010 Do they have drop down screens - there is a set of controls between the seats but I don't want to press anything in case I get charged! the controls between the seats no longer do anything - sorry :-) When Virgin first started planning the Pendolinos (>10 years ago???) no-one had an iPod so the idea of building a music player into the train like they did on planes kind of made sense. Now everyone has iPods etc, so no-one was using the entertainment systems and they're all disconnected
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