Scottish Phones Going Underground

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Scottish Phones Going Underground

In a terrifying development, for me at least, O2 [http://www.o2.co.uk/] (One of the major mobile networks in the UK) are now providing full coverage in five of Glasgow's subway stations.

At the moment, only Buchanan Street, St Enoch, Hillhead, Partick and Govan are being covered, and then only on the platforms themselves; but if consumer reaction is favorable then it will be extended to the tunnels as well.

Gregor Borrie, O2's spokesman said "From today, passengers will be able to walk into the five underground stations, make voice calls, send messages, send photographs, and browse the internet over their phones."

On the plus side: You can now surf the internet and view the wonders of the Escapist whilst nibbling on your deep fried Mars bar. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep-fried_Mars_Bar]

On the negative side : "HELLO! YES, I'LL BE HOME IN A MINUTE! HAVE YOU GOT THE HAGGIS READY?"

Source : BBC Scotland [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7757323.stm]

Permalink

 

[Skrapt]

I actually really like Haggis Tis like spicy mince meat and is very tasty!

 

[Galletea]

It will surely only add to the annoyance of the commute, having people chattering on and on. I hate it on public transport anyway.

 

[smallharmlesskitten]

Thanks for the news Mike

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Thanks for the news Mike

S'alrite. Hope you like the articles, I'll be trying for a mix between the scary, silly and informative.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

Thanks for the news Mike

S'alrite. Hope you like the articles, I'll be trying for a mix between the scary, silly and informative.

And perhaps slightly relevant to the Escapist?

 

[smallharmlesskitten]

Thanks for the news Mike

S'alrite. Hope you like the articles, I'll be trying for a mix between the scary, silly and informative.

However.. I have news that no-one has yet....I'll see you on steam about it

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Thanks for the news Mike

S'alrite. Hope you like the articles, I'll be trying for a mix between the scary, silly and informative.

And perhaps slightly relevant to the Escapist?

You never know, it might happen.

 

[Geoffrey42]

Thanks for the news Mike

S'alrite. Hope you like the articles, I'll be trying for a mix between the scary, silly and informative.

And perhaps slightly relevant to the Escapist?

And if not, maybe identified in such a way as to make it more apparent that this has absolutely nothing to do with anything related to the primary subject matter of the site? Far be it from me to suppress humorous tangents and personal expression, but if they're going to go in the News & Columns section, some sort of visual indicator to make them less fungible would be fantastic.

Something like the little man standing next to the paper like Op-Eds, or recurring title like 'Smile and Nod:'...

 

[mcswift]

See, I was more concerned about people blowing things up via cell phone signal in the subway rather than chattering and haggis.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Thanks for the news Mike

S'alrite. Hope you like the articles, I'll be trying for a mix between the scary, silly and informative.

And perhaps slightly relevant to the Escapist?

And if not, maybe identified in such a way as to make it more apparent that this has absolutely nothing to do with anything related to the primary subject matter of the site? Far be it from me to suppress humorous tangents and personal expression, but if they're going to go in the News & Columns section, some sort of visual indicator to make them less fungible would be fantastic.

Something like the little man standing next to the paper like Op-Eds, or recurring title like 'Smile and Nod:'...

I take your points, and I'm assuming you've already read the two articles below it, and look forward to the two articles yet to come today (fingers crossed); but there's always been a mixture of news and reviews here that don't 'completely' nail the 'Escapist Culture'.

Whilst not running off on the wild tangents of Khell's rants, I'm trying to show things that can affect us, and may interest those with a wider taste to the world.

As for the phones themselves, I'd have thought the idea of a Wifi network in the Underground would be of great relevance to those of us that travel with our computers. YMMV.

 

[Geoffrey42]

I take your points, and I'm assuming you've already read the two articles below it, and look forward to the two articles yet to come today (fingers crossed); but there's always been a mixture of news and reviews here that don't 'completely' nail the 'Escapist Culture'.

Whilst not running off on the wild tangents of Khell's rants, I'm trying to show things that can affect us, and may interest those with a wider taste to the world.

As for the phones themselves, I'd have thought the idea of a Wifi network in the Underground would be of great relevance to those of us that travel with our computers. YMMV.

My first inclination is to snidery, so believe me when I say that I'm aiming for constructive criticism, even if I miss.

I hadn't really paid attention to the poster of any articles earlier today, but on going back and looking for yours in particular, I recognized that even the ones that had as little to do with gaming as this one did not bug me much, if at all. So, I put a little bit of thought into why that might be.

I think what I settled on is that this post has a very narrow potential audience, while the others have a slightly wider one. Taking into account the greater Glasgow area, from wikipedia numbers, let's say the Glasgow Underground services 1.5 million residents. The subset of that group that have laptops with cellular internet service is probably pretty small, so the potential for that to add an extra element to the post is tenuous. The one about porn, whilst telling the tale of a small group of people, actually hit quite close to home (for reasons I could explain, but no one would really believe, and I wanted to say something nice).

On a more editorial slant: most of us have a wider taste to the world, which is why we frequent more than one website. Specialization is one the hallmarks and building stones of modern civilization. A loss of focus has killed more than one movie/novel/business/dream/website (but, to be fair, so has an overly narrow focus on a given niche). And, I don't typically think of cellular wireless service as Wifi, but I couldn't find a source to prove otherwise.

 

[xitel]

It will surely only add to the annoyance of the commute, having people chattering on and on. I hate it on public transport anyway.

Meh, I'm used to standing around at bus stations with assholes on their cellphones, so I've just learned to tune it all out.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I think what I settled on is that this post has a very narrow potential audience, while the others have a slightly wider one. Taking into account the greater Glasgow area, from wikipedia numbers, let's say the Glasgow Underground services 1.5 million residents. The subset of that group that have laptops with cellular internet service is probably pretty small, so the potential for that to add an extra element to the post is tenuous.

From small acorns, Geoffrey.
A lot of the commuters in the Glasgow area are unlikely to be Glaswegian; and as UK correspondent, I have to look for things that target UK/European elements.
Given that this is most likely a test run for other undergrounds, say Newcastle, London, Nottingham, Manhattan; the idea of cellular connectivity has a wide ranging implication; especially for those of us who don't want to be contactable 24 hours a day.
If such a network does receive commuter support, the implications may be worldwide.

And anyway, it gave some people a laugh, which is much more important these days.

 

[Geoffrey42]

I don't see the association to mighty oaks.

I took the 1.2m~ish residents (though it appears on second reading of the wikipedia, the Greater Glasgow Urban Area census figure does NOT include the 500k of the Glasgow City Council; not to mention that my use of "residents" above fails utterly in conveying what I meant), added 10% of the 2.3m in the "commutes to Glasgow" area, and figured non-participation on the part of locals would offset the area underneath the curve down to 10% and tourism. Factoring in the 500k I missed before, I'll adjust my estimate to 2m. I don't know if that's what you meant by "not Glaswegian", but I just wanted to point out that I was trying to factor in non-residents.

It would seem that my local metropolitan subterranean rail system has had cellphone service for several years, though I can't seem to track down a reliable begin date (more than 1.5 years, but that would seem to be when the current company took over an existing network). Rumor has it there's money set aside in some recent funding to provide for more than the one operator who currently has a semi-exclusive contract. (The implication here being that Glasgow is so far up the bleeding edge that little pockets of time-space are curling off the edge and bringing their advanced ideas into the past. I'm losing heart...)

Anyway indeed, it certainly did, and it certainly is. ~

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

It would seem that my local metropolitan subterranean rail system has had cellphone service for several years, though I can't seem to track down a reliable begin date (more than 1.5 years, but that would seem to be when the current company took over an existing network).

I did wonder why I hadn't heard of it, but a quick check round didn't reveal any stations that did have it. AFAIK, Dara O'Brien even made a joke about it last year.

Anyway indeed, it certainly did, and it certainly is. ~

That's ok then. I'm trying to keep my "And Finally..." stories to a minimum, but I do so love the weird stories.

 

[WolfLordAndy]

Nottingham

Nottingham has an underground system? Why has no one told me of this???

I know they have trams, but pretty sure no underground, lol. But I would hate for this to be rolled out in London, while annoying that you don't have signal. The good thing is that NO BODY ELSE DOES. I don't wanna here thousands of mobiles going off with crappy ring tones, and little kids pissing around. It's bad enough in the streets.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Nottingham

Nottingham has an underground system? Why has no one told me of this???

I know they have trams, but pretty sure no underground, lol.

You've not been under Broadmarsh or in the Three Children?

 

[WolfLordAndy]

Nottingham

Nottingham has an underground system? Why has no one told me of this???

I know they have trams, but pretty sure no underground, lol.

You've not been under Broadmarsh or in the Three Children?

All I know under the Broadmarsh is a bus station? But its not underground? They have a secret train station under their or something?